Overwhelmed by his drug addiction, theft from their home and the constant arrival of drug dealers at all hours, a Gqeberha mother made a decision to have her own son murdered.
Having lost her husband years earlier, she also knew that her son’s life insurance policy would provide for her 11-year-old daughter’s future.
An elaborate plan was then set in motion to have her son killed by hit men, but Shayhieda Dollie’s conscience plagued her, causing her to rethink the deal several times.
However, in October, she finally gave the go-ahead for the contract killers to pull the trigger.
Moegamat Thaafir Dollie, 22, was lured from the family home in Kobus Road, Gelvan Park, on October 28 under the pretence of a job interview.
A little more than an hour later, his mother got a message informing her that the “deal” had been concluded.
Moegamat was shot dead in Missionvale.
Dollie, 49, gave the chilling account of what drove her to take out a hit on her son in the Gqeberha high court on Wednesday after entering into a plea agreement with the state.
She pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder.
After her conviction, she was sentenced to an effective 25 years behind bars.
And while the mother may have escaped a life sentence, she will forever have to live with the guilt.
“The moment I got word that he had been killed, I knew that I had made a terrible mistake,” she told the court.
She said she had gone back and forth between the idea of having Moegamat killed and abandoning it.
“I eventually carried out this evil plan.”
Dollie said the guilt had set in immediately and she decided to come clean to her brother.
“I already had issues dealing with stress and anxiety and there was no way I would be able to live with what I had done,” she said in a lengthy statement read out to the court.
After confiding in her brother, she gave a full confession to the police and was arrested on November 6.
After her initial appearance in the New Brighton Magistrate’s Court, the matter was transferred to the high court for a plea and sentence agreement to be finalised.
Dollie also detailed a long series of events spanning about a decade that she believed had contributed to her own drug dependence, mental health issues and the eventual decision to have her son murdered.
Ten years ago, while living in Kariega, her husband was killed in a car crash, leaving her to raise Moegamat and her younger daughter — aged 12 and one at the time — by herself.
Two years later, she and her children moved in with her brother in Kobus Road, Gelvan Park.
Three years after that she decided to leave her job at the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality to take better care of her children and the household.
Still struggling to cope with her husband’s death, she started taking prescription drugs for anxiety and depression.
She soon became dependent on the medication and was exceeding the prescribed dosage.
From there, she frequented drug dens in the northern areas to purchase the same medication illegally.
“About four years ago, from about the age of 18, it became apparent [Moegamat] had also fallen into the trap of drug abuse.
“His behaviour became erratic, and he dropped out of school. We confronted him and he admitted that he was abusing prescription drugs,” she told the court.
Despite working for his uncle on a casual basis, Moegamat did not contribute to the household’s finances and instead started stealing items from their home to feed his addiction.
Dollie also had to intervene when drug dealers came to the house looking for him.
Seeing his life slowly deteriorate, Dollie took out a R2m life insurance policy on Moegamat in 2023, thinking his lifestyle would soon claim his life.
In this way, she believed she would be able to raise her daughter comfortably after his death.
A few months ago, the mother and son bumped into each other at the same drug post, and Dollie asked the dealers to scare her son into giving up drugs.
Moegamat was tied up and later brought home by a man named Lorenzo.
“I thanked Lorenzo for his efforts but requested he find someone to kill my son because of the damage he was causing my household.
“Lorenzo gave me a phone number and told me that people with the names ‘Oompie’ and ‘Shaun’ would help me kill [Moegamat],” Dollie said.
Negotiations started and, for about four months, she was in constant contact with the two men.
A price of R80,000 was set for contract killers to come from Johannesburg to do the deed.
However, Dollie was reluctant and kept changing her mind.
The price escalated to R300,000 due to her indecision, and they insisted the plan go ahead as they had also become aware of the life insurance policy.
When her son’s drug habit once again caused strife in the family home, she finally made the decision to go ahead with the murderous plan.
“Shaun and I arranged for Moegamat to be picked up on the Monday morning. I then informed him that he would be going for [a job interview].
“That morning, Shaun contacted me by phone and informed me that they would be arriving at 6.30am to pick Moegamat up.
“Oompie left me a voice note some time later informing me that Moegamat had been shot and killed in Missionvale at 7.45am.”
His body was found at the scene.
About a week later, when police came to her home to take a statement, she made a full confession.
“There is no excuse for what I did. Moegamat was my son and the last thing he deserved was to be the victim of a contract killing.
“His drug abuse and unruly behaviour does not excuse anything I did,” Dollie said.
She indicated that she would co-operate with the police to try to track down her accomplices.
In terms of her sentencing agreement, it was indicated that her daughter, now 11, would stay with relatives.
She was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for murder and 10 years for conspiracy to commit murder.
The court ordered that the sentences run concurrently, meaning she will spend an effective 25 years behind bars.
The case draws a parallel to the 2007 murder of Abie Pakkies on the Cape Flats at the hands of his mother, Ellen.
The Pakkies saga illustrated the impact long-term drug dependence, in their case, tik, could have on a family.
Ellen confessed to murdering her son by strangling him with a rope, stating that his drug addiction, and the negative impact it had on their entire family, had driven her to kill him.
In contrast to Dollie, the court found substantial and compelling circumstances in the Pakkies matter that caused the judge to deviate from the prescribed sentence.
Pakkies was handed a three-year sentence, suspended for three years, and 280 hours of community service.
Her story was also turned into a movie which was released in 2018.
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