APPEALS COURT CHANGES DEATH SENTENCE TO 15 YEARS Death row inmate, Samson Sarefo breathed a sigh of relief as the Court of Appeal (CoA) turned his death sentence into a 15-year imprisonment. This was after a panel of Court of Appeal judges found that there were extenuating circumstances and that the trial judge erred when he said there were none, particularly that it was evident that the appellant had been suffering countless abuse, of many forms, from his deceased wife. The panel also noted that although the counsel for the prosecution argued that the case merits to be considered on the high end of the sentencing scale, no substantive reason was given. On the other hand, the judges were persuaded by the counsel for the appellant that there were mitigating factors which merit a sentence on the lower end of the scale. One of these, they said, was that he had always expressed remorse for his conduct and was also a first offender. In addition the judges observed that having killed the mother of his own children, it would haunt him for a long time. In making their ruling, the judges noted that there were no significant aggravating factors which had been pointed out and they set aside the sentence of death and instead the appellant was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment backdated to the date when he was remanded in custody pending trial for this offence. While motivating his arguments earlier on, the appellant’s lawyer, Mr. Kgosietsile Ngakaagae said Sarefo, who is a former BDF soldier based in Thebephatshwa Air Base, did not deserve to be sentenced to death particularly that there were elements of extenuation surrounding the killing of his wife Mrs. Gloria Sarefo on 14 October 2009. He told the court that it had never been Sarefo’s intention to kill his wife, but only to cause grievous body harm, when he suddenly grabbed a jungle knife in the car and attacked his wife who had been insulting and abusing him. Mr. Ngakaagae therefore said it was surprising that the court did not find anything extenuating after Sarefo gave evidence coupled with his confession statement that he was provoked and the knife that he used to kill his wife was in fact brought in the car by the deceased. He argued that the judge misdirected herself as to the factual existence of extenuating circumstances as well as to the legal principles applicable with regard to the question of extenuating circumstances. He said it was common cause that the killing had the constituent ingredients of the offence of murder, adding that such were spelt out in the admitted facts. To that end, the appellant pleaded guilty as charged. Based on the plea and admitted facts the judge convicted him as charged and following the conviction, he argued, the judge ordered that the matter should proceed to the extenuation enquiry. The appellant gave sworn evidence in extenuation and was cross examined by the prosecution which never sought to controvert his testimony in any way regarding the presence of circumstances. It further never sought to controvert his testimony regarding circumstances that followed. He further submitted that the admitted facts embodying the circumstances thereof were accepted by the judge without question and without any reservation or criticism whatsoever. The same were the exclusive basis for the appellant’s conviction and the basis of his plea. Responding to the defence submissions, the prosecutor from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr Mosweu Ditodi noted that it was crucial that the appellant was convicted on his own unequivocal plea of guilty, and that the elements founding the charge of murder are not in dispute. He further noted that the court should look whether there were any facts which might be relevant to extenuation, such as intoxication, immaturity or provocation. He also said that the judge did not err in concluding that just because the appellant was a soldier he could not be physically abused by his wife. He also said it was true that the appellant was capable of physically overpowering the deceased and that the presiding judge did not err in concluding that there were no extenuating circumstances in the case. He further told the court that the judge did not err in allowing her mind to be swayed by the injuries as per photo album because the way she was killed was horrible. (BOPA)
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:10:04 +0000
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