Woman, 22, found guilty of beheading Scots grandmother
Expat dismembered in own home in South Africa
A WOMAN has been found guilty of beheading a Scottish grandmother at her home in South Africa.
Sandra Malcolm had been planning to return to Scotland to visit family in her native Dundee when she was hacked to death.
Sheree Prince, 22, who admitted the brutal attack, was convicted of breaking into the 74-year-old’s Cape Town home and murdering her.
Mrs Malcolm had been helping the young woman after she suffered an injury – but Prince turned on her, fearing she would call police.
Prosecutor Advocate Liezl Herbst argued the murder was premeditated.
Prince’s defence lawyer, advocate Leandra Adams, disagreed and said it had ‘happened on the spur of the moment’.
Judge Bruce Langa said the ‘horrifying’ way in which Prince killed Sandra would count heavily against her.
At a hearing the judge said: ‘I accept the report by the forensic pathologist that the deceased was stabbed 24 times.
‘This does not alter the accused’s guilt, but will be relevant for sentencing.’
He added: ‘The accused totally dismembered the deceased. She removed her head and all the main limbs: legs, arms and knees completely.
‘An attempt to cut both her thighs in half was unsuccessful. An attempt to cut the upper torso in half was also unsuccessful.
‘There is no justification to kill the deceased unless she planned it. It was planned and she wanted to dispose of the body.’
In her plea statement, Prince said that after breaking into Mrs Malcolm’s house in 2015, the pensioner gave her food and treated her injured foot.
Prince said Mrs Malcolm fed her tea and toast, but when she offered to call an ambulance, Prince became suspicious and stabbed her.
She said she killed Mrs Malcolm because she was afraid she would call police.
Prince beheaded the pensioner with a knife and cut off her arms using an axe before throwing her body into a wheelie bin.
Police arrested Prince in Citrusdal, 100 miles north of Cape Town, a few days after the grandmother’s death.
They linked her to the scene via fingerprints, mobile phone records and stolen goods they found at her father’s house. After her first court appearance in 2015, Prince was admitted to a psychiatric centre.
She was found fit to stand trial at Western Cape High Court, in Cape Town, after years of legal wrangling.
Mrs Malcolm’s body was dis-
‘She wanted to dispose of body’
covered after her grandson reportedly climbed in through a window when she failed to answer the door.
She was found on a Sunday morning at her cottage in Lakeside, near Muizenberg, a suburb of the city. The grandmother had lived in South Africa for 35 years and was survived by two daughters, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Mrs Malcolm’s nephew, Colin Chalmers, of Monifieth, Angus, said in 2015 the family had been left ‘distraught’ by the violent killing.
He added: ‘I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before, it’s shocking.’
Prince said she had left her home in Citrusdal in April 2015 due to her ‘poor relationship’ with her mother.
She was also found guilty of two charges of housebreaking and one of theft at a property on April 14, 2015.
Prince had broken into a house in Mitchells Plain, near Cape Town, where she stole items worth £1,100.
She admitted robbing a house then going to Muizenberg, where she hid stolen goods in her father’s house.
The case was adjourned until April 19 for sentencing.