Cape Argus

Man gets 25 years for girlfriend’s murder

-

A 43-YEAR-old Prieska man has been sentenced to an effective 25 years’ imprisonme­nt after he was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, who was found dead the morning after he beat her up so badly that the judge described the photograph­s of her injuries as “too ghastly to view”.

Neville van Staden, who has a five-page list of previous conviction­s, murdered his girlfriend, Nancy Johanne Jas, in the Plakkerska­mp in Prieska on the night of December 4, 2015. Van Staden was found guilty of murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and two counts of common assault in December.

Jas was found dead in the house she shared with Van Staden the day after he allegedly assaulted her by hitting her and strangling her.

Delivering the sentence, Judge Mpho Mamosebo, said it was trite that the triad, comprising the personal circumstan­ces of the accused, the nature and seriousnes­s of the offences as well as the interests of the society, had to be taken into considerat­ion when imposing sentence.

“The accused has a catalogue of previous conviction­s, comprising five pages, which, on the face of it, may show a propensity for criminalit­y but more pertinentl­y violence. He had his first clash with the law in 1990 and his last conviction and sentence was on September 17, 2015. He has one previous conviction of rape.”

Judge Mamosebo pointed out that in this case, Van Staden had been convicted of murder with direct intent.

“The cause of death was asphyxiati­on due to strangulat­ion, as well as the consequenc­es of multiple assault injuries. The doctor had already confirmed that the deceased had no chance of survival after sustaining such injuries. All the deceased’ s ribs were fractured. The accused cannot stand before court and claim that with such extensive use of blunt force that broke all ribs, caused sub-cutaneous bruising of the scalp on both sides, a laceration in the upper lobe of the right lung, a pulpified left lung, as well as the pulpificat­ion of the right lobe of the liver, plus strangulat­ion intention was not to kill the deceased.”

Judge Mamosebo imposed life imprisonme­nt for the charge of murder, 12 months’ imprisonme­nt for each of the two charges of common assault and two years for the charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. – DFA

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa