Now killer who beheaded Scot begs: Forgive me
A WOMAN who beheaded a Scottish grandmother at her home in South Africa has begged the victim’s family for forgiveness.
Sandra Malcolm was hacked to death by Sheree Prince, 22, who had broken into her Cape Town home.
Mrs Malcolm, 74, had been helping the young woman after she suffered an injury. Prince said Mrs Malcolm gave her tea and toast but when she offered to call an ambulance, Prince feared she would call police and stabbed her 24 times. She then 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 in April 2015. Prince, who admitted murder, has now written a letter to the family of Mrs Malcolm, originally from Monifieth, Angus.
The letter, which was handed to the Western Cape High Court, read: ‘I wouldn’t know who the family is but I would like the family to please forgive me and accept my apology as time goes by.’
At a hearing on Monday, Leandra Adams, Prince’s defence lawyer, appealed for her client to be shown mercy.
She said: ‘Since her incarceration my client has not involved herself in any altercations. The accused is convicted of serious crimes and she takes full responsibility for her actions.
‘She did not in any way ever try to mislead the court.’
Prince’s sentencing date has been postponed until next month.
She was linked to the crime scene by fingerprints, phone records and stolen goods found at her father’s house.
After her first court appearance in 2015, Prince was eventually deemed competent to stand trial.
Mrs Malcolm’s body was discovered after her grandson reportedly climbed in through a window when she failed to answer the door at her cottage
‘Convicted of serious crimes’
in Lakeside, near Muizenberg. Prince said she had left her home in Citrusdal in April 2015 because of her ‘poor relationship’ with her mother.
She admitted robbing a house then she took a taxi to Muizenberg.
Prince said she was offered a job as a cleaner at an antique shop but left after kicking over a pot of stew and burning her foot. She left with a handbag she had earlier stolen.
On April 18 she arrived at Lakeside and climbed in through an open window, waking Mrs Malcolm.
The Scots pensioner had lived in South Africa for 35 years and is survived by two daughters, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.