Life sentences for men who murdered pregnant woman in Kraaifontein

A Night of Bullets: How 11 Seconds Destroyed Three Generations

On 21 June 2020, a modest wendy house on Klipbok Street in Scottsdene became a massacre site. In just 11 seconds, 24 bullets tore through the thin walls, ending two lives and wounding two others. The target, according to investigators, was 37-year-old Moegamat Rylands, who owed R11,000 for a drug debt. But the bullets found 21-year-old Shahieda Nathan first. She collapsed in her bedroom doorway, her hand still shielding her 32-week pregnancy. Her unborn child, later named Baby Nathan by the court, died with her.

Chadwin Samuels, a 29-year-old pastry chef, and Rylands survived but were critically injured. A fourth person, 19-year-old Cameryn Plaatjies, escaped by squeezing into a kitchen cupboard and silencing a WhatsApp voice note mid-scream. The attackers fled in a silver VW Polo with the license plate “BLESSED,” a grim irony that would later haunt the investigation.

Scottsdene, a suburb wedged between the N1 highway and Joostenbergvlakte’s vineyards, has long been a spillover zone for Cape Flats gangs. The Spoilt Brats, Fancy Boys, and Mongrels have all fought over its 800-meter stretch of council homes and zinc shacks. Yet Shahieda had no gang ties. Her aunt, Zulfa Nathan, told the court the young woman’s only vices were KFC and karaoke.

The Killers, the Guns, and the Message That Went Horribly Wrong

Jeremiah Fortuin, 42, and Ricardo Cloete, 43, were no random shooters. Fortuin, a Spoilt Brats lieutenant nicknamed “Boks” for his teenage boxing trophies, was hired to send a warning. Cloete, a Mongrels enforcer fresh off parole for housebreaking, was his backup. Together, they bought a 9mm Parabellum and an R5 rifle from a corrupt security guard at a Stellenbosch wine farm. Cellphone records show they met at a BP garage at 18:42, just 36 minutes before the shooting.

Their plan was simple: masks on, door kicked in, bullets flying. A neighbor’s security camera captured the muzzle flashes strobing like a disco. After the final shot, Fortuin reportedly stepped over Shahieda’s body and muttered, “Wrong girl, but the message is sent.” That line, later repeated by survivors in hospital statements, became a key piece of evidence.

Detective Sergeant Christopher Conradie, a 22-year SAPS veteran known as “Klip-Kop,” took the case at 3 a.m. the next day. He calls his method “saturation and suffocation”: flood the area for intel, then choke the suspects’ escape routes. Within 48 hours, he had the Polo, 19 spent cartridges, and a partial palm print on a shell casing - a forensic rarity that tied Fortuin to the scene. He also found a crumpled pregnancy scan photo 30 meters from the escape route.

The Voice Note That Changed Everything

The case pivoted on a 14-second voice memo accidentally recorded on Samuels’ phone. In it, a masked voice - later identified by a state linguist as Cloete - says, “Finish the mommy, the puppy dies too.” Two shots follow. That clip allowed the state to add a second murder charge for the viable foetus, making the case capital and mandating life sentences if convicted.

Arrests came in July 2020. Fortuin was nabbed at a Bellville gambling den with counterfeit tokens and an unlicensed pistol in his underwear. Cloete fled through a ceiling during an August raid, then surrendered after his Jehovah’s Witness mother begged on Radio 786. He got R2,000 bail in October 2021, only to be re-arrested six weeks later for breaking curfew, witness intimidation on TikTok Live, and possession of a “ghost” Glock 19 - ballistics matched it to the Scottsdene scene.

The trial ran from 8 May 2023 for 67 court days. The state called 46 witnesses: neighbors, gang defectors, surgeons, telecoms experts, even a foetal-medicine professor who testified that babies at 32 weeks have a 95% survival rate outside the womb. Defence lawyer Johann van der Spuy tried to frame the shooting as a lover’s quarrel, but could not explain Fortuin’s DNA on the R5’s safety catch. Cloete never took the stand.

Valentine’s Day Verdict and the Aftermath of Loss

On 14 February 2026, Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath convicted both men on two counts of murder, two of attempted murder, illegal firearms charges, and POCA violations for gang activity. The gallery erupted; Shahieda’s mother, Riefa, collapsed. Outside, residents set off Eid fireworks - a bleak celebration of a rare gang conviction. SAPS data show only 8% of Western Cape gang murders end in life sentences.

Sentencing hearings revealed the human wreckage. Samuels, once a bodybuilder, now has a bullet fragment 3 mm from his aorta and cannot lift baking trays. Rylands lost 40% kidney function and undergoes dialysis four times a week; his employer fired him for “unreliable attendance.” Plaatjies dropped out of CPUT and sleeps in her mother’s bed; medical aid refuses to cover trauma hypnosis. Shahieda’s four-year-old daughter draws headless stick figures - complex childhood grief, social workers say.

Defence psychologists cited the killers’ own trauma: Fortuin’s father murdered in 1994, Cloete raped at age 11. Yet Dr. Elzette Albrecht admitted that 63% of Scottsdene teens share similar backgrounds without becoming assassins. On 17 March, Goliath handed down two life terms plus 15, 15, 6, and 11 years, all concurrent. The pair can apply for parole after 25 years, when Fortuin will be 67 and Cloete 68. Their DNA must be uploaded within 24 hours, and any prison pension is forfeit - a symbolic precedent.

Beyond the Sentence: Community, Legacy, and the Next War

Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile, flanked by a drained Sgt Conradie, told reporters, “This is not a victory. It is a debt partially repaid.” He confirmed the Anti-Gang Unit will next target the corrupt security guard who sold the R5, hinting at arrests under the new Criminal Matters Amendment Act.

Community reactions split. Ward councillor Brandon Pfadtler called for a 72-hour candlelight vigil along Klipbok Street. Pastor Jerome America, a reformed 28s gang general, launched an “adopt-a-street” programme pairing ex-offenders with teens. Online, calls for the death penalty surged. DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers tabled “Shahieda’s Law,” a sentencing enhancement for pregnant victims - legal scholars warn it may clash with constitutional equality clauses.

The crime scene itself is gone. The municipality demolished the bullet-riddled wendy house in September 2022. A portable toilet now services workers building “Sanctuary Heights,” a R45 million mixed-income complex promising 40% of units to buyers earning under R18,000. Locals are sceptical; similar projects in Bishop Lavis and Delft became gang recruiting grounds when youth centres never arrived.

In the Nathan home, Shahieda’s nursery stays untouched: powder-blue walls, felt-star mobile, unopened Pampers. A Quranic verse on the door reads, “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.” The family will bury a white coffin - Aaliyah, “the exalted one” - beside Shahieda once the mortuary releases the foetus’s remains, a process Conradie has vowed to expedite.

At SAPS headquarters, the 710-page docket will be digitised as a benchmark for future gang prosecutions. Conradie keeps the crime-scene photos on a password-protected tablet. “I scroll through them late at night,” he says, “not to remember the horror, but to remind myself that bullets shatter time itself. Every birthday that child never had is now part of my caseload.”

Whether the double life sentence weakens Cape gangs is uncertain. The Spoilt Brats already crowned a 19-year-old “Young Boks” in Scottsdene. The Mongrels reportedly fired a 21-gun salute for Cloete on conviction night - fireworks visible from the courtroom window. For now, the law has spoken in the only currency it fully controls: years stacked like bricks against a tide that shows no sign of receding.

[{"question": "What was the Scottsdene Massacre?", "answer": "The Scottsdene Massacre refers to a tragic event on June 21, 2020, where Shahieda Nathan, 21, and her unborn child (32-weeks pregnant) were killed when 24 bullets were fired into a wendy house on Klipbok Street in Scottsdene. The attack, carried out by Jeremiah Fortuin and Ricardo Cloete, was intended for Moegamat Rylands over an R11,000 drug debt."}, {"question": "Who were the victims of the Scottsdene Massacre?", "answer": "The primary victims were Shahieda Nathan and her unborn baby, later named Baby Nathan by the court, both of whom died. Two other individuals, Chadwin Samuels and Moegamat Rylands, were critically injured but survived. Cameryn Plaatjies, a fourth person present, managed to escape unharmed."}, {"question": "Who were the perpetrators and what were their roles?", "answer": "Jeremiah Fortuin, a 42-year-old Spoilt Brats lieutenant known as 'Boks,' was hired to carry out the shooting. Ricardo Cloete, a 43-year-old Mongrels enforcer, acted as his backup. They acquired a 9mm Parabellum and an R5 rifle for the attack."}, {"question": "What evidence led to the conviction of Fortuin and Cloete?", "answer": "Key evidence included a neighbor's security camera footage showing muzzle flashes, 19 spent cartridges and a partial palm print linking Fortuin to the scene, and a crumpled pregnancy scan photo found near the escape route. Crucially, a 14-second voice memo accidentally recorded on Chadwin Samuels' phone captured Cloete saying, 'Finish the mommy, the puppy dies too,' followed by two shots. Fortuin's statement, 'Wrong girl, but the message is sent,' also served as evidence. Additionally, ballistics matched a 'ghost' Glock 19 found with Cloete to the scene."}, {"question": "What sentences did Jeremiah Fortuin and Ricardo Cloete receive?", "answer": "On February 14, 2026, Deputy Judge President Patricia Goliath convicted both men on two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, illegal firearms charges, and POCA violations for gang activity. They each received two life sentences, plus concurrent sentences of 15, 15, 6, and 11 years. They will be eligible for parole after 25 years."}, {"question": "What has been the impact of the Scottsdene Massacre and its aftermath?", "answer": "The massacre highlighted the devastating impact of gang violence on innocent lives. Surviving victims, Chadwin Samuels and Moegamat Rylands, suffered severe and lasting physical injuries. Cameryn Plaatjies developed trauma, and Shahieda's 4-year-old daughter experiences complex childhood grief. The case led to discussions about 'Shahieda's Law' for enhanced sentencing for pregnant victims and prompted community initiatives to combat gang influence. While the conviction was a rare success for gang prosecutions in the Western Cape, gang activity continues, with new leaders emerging and the Mongrels reportedly saluting Cloete on his conviction night."}]