Bethulie - Six men pleaded guilty to murdering an elderly couple in the Free State High Court on Tuesday, the National Prosecuting Authority said.
The men were sentenced to 10 years each for housebreaking with aggravating circumstances and 19 years each for murder, spokesman Phaladi Shuping said.
They were sentenced to an effective 19 years as the sentences would run concurrently.
Tshepo Ramahlama, 19, Sphiwe Sakman, 19, Paseka Snyman, 18 and three minors aged between 15 and 17 years were arrested last year February.
“The accused broke the kitchen door of the couple’s house to gain entry. They found them sleeping in their bedroom where they hacked them with pangas and stabbed them with knives several times,” Mncube said.
They fled the scene with the couple’s Toyota bakkie which they later sold.
Gordon, 78, and Lorraine Adam, 63, were found with multiple stabs wounds in their Bethulie home in the Free State.
Ramahlama, Sakman, Snyman and one minor were sentenced to a further three years each for illegal possession of firearm and six months for illegal possession of ammunition.
Sapa