Killer gets double life sentences for hit on 75-year-old man, family, during morning prayer

Daily Maverick

23-06-2025

Reagan Davids, 35, murdered Haslim Ahmed Dennis and attempted to kill Dennis' wife and daughter after the daughter's husband paid him R1,000.
The Western Cape Division of the High Court in Cape Town sentenced Reagan Davids, 35, to two life sentences and 15 years for the murder of Haslim Ahmed Dennis, 75, and the attempted murders of his wife, Kulsoem Dennis, 70, and daughter, Ibtisaam Dennis.
Tears flowed as Judge Gayaat da Silva Salie on Thursday, 19 June 2025, handed down the hefty sentence that has finally brought a sense of closure to a family devastated by the crime committed on 31 January 2020.
Haslim Dennis was washing in the bathroom while Kulsoem was seated on their bed reciting passages from the Holy Qur'an before the Fajr (sunrise prayer) at 4.30am when Davids attacked them.
Haslim sustained nine stab wounds to his upper body. Kulsoem was violently assaulted with a firearm while praying. Her injuries included a fractured sternum and head injuries. She survived by pretending to be dead.
Their daughter Ibtisaam narrowly escaped death by slamming closed the sliding door to the main house, stopping Davids.
Ibtisaam's husband, Brent Williams, was the mastermind of the callous crime. The couple, who have two children, were undergoing marital problems. Williams hired Davids and another man, unknown to the State, to invade and attack his wife and in-laws to 'neutralise' his problems.
Prosecutors proved the murder had been a contract killing – Davids was paid R1,000, which he used to buy takkies.
Williams died on 10 February 2025, shortly before the State closed its case, leaving Davids to face justice alone.
'Exceptional brutality'
Delivering the sentence, Judge Da Silva Salie stated: 'These offences are marked by exceptional brutality, targeting vulnerable elderly victims in a sanctified setting.
'The level of violence, disregard for human life and the psychological terror inflicted upon the surviving victims and so too the surrounding community, warrant the imposition of a long period of direct imprisonment.'
The judge said the murder plot was yet another act of domestic and gender-based violence.
'South Africa has been recorded as having one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world. The convictions in this matter touch on so many disturbing and prevailing features of crime in our society: domestic violence, gender-based violence and murders, exposure of children to violence and harm, violence and murder of elderly people, to mention a few,' the judge reiterated.
On the morning of 31 January 2020, when devoted Muslims Haslim and Kulsoem Dennis began their daily routine by waking up for the Fajr, the sunrise prayer at or around 4am, they left the sliding door of their flat in Northpine, Cape Town, slightly ajar, allowing their daughter or grandchildren, who live in the main house, to join them.
While sitting on the bed, Kulsoem heard the voice of an intruder who, with brutal force, attacked her by hitting her head, neck and chest area with a firearm.
According to the judgement, she uttered ' Allahu-Akbar' with every inflicted blow until she fell to the floor.
She then lay on the floor, pretending to be dead, with her burqa falling over her face, as she kept her eyes closed.
While lying on the floor, she heard shoving noises in the room as it was ransacked. As her husband returned from the bathroom, he too was mercilessly assaulted by the intruders.
When it was quiet, Kulsoem stood up and found her husband dead on the floor, bleeding from multiple stab wounds.
Ibtisaam called the police and her sister after she had blocked the intruders from entering the main house.
The attackers fled, but CCTV footage captured Williams driving his bakkie towards the site of the attack, the home he shared with his wife, two children and his elderly parents-in-law.
He was seen dropping off the two men he had hired and giving them access through the front safety gate and door. He waited at a nearby Caltex garage.
Shortly after the attack, the two assailants were captured on CCTV running back to Williams' bakkie and getting into the front of the vehicle, next to him. The bakkie was seen with Williams driving away with his co-perpetrators.
Western Cape NPA boss, advocate Nicolette Bell, said after the judgment, 'It can never be overemphasised how important human life is and the NPA will continue being vigorous in its pursuit of these cases to serve as a deterrent to would-be murderers.' DM