JUDGMENT
IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA

(WESTERN CAPE HIGH COURT, CAPE TOWN)

CASE NUMBER:							A458/2008
DATE:								27 FEBRUARY 2009
In the matter between:
W  F							APPLICANT
and
THE STATE							RESPONDENT						

The appellant is a 15 year old youth who was charged at the 15 Mossel Bay Regional Court on 26 October 2006 with murder. He pleaded guilty and was accordingly convicted. He was sentenced to 15 years direct imprisonment. He now appeals against the sentence imposed. The appellant admitted that he stabbed the deceased, a 62 year old woman three times in the back with a knife.

The prescribed minimum sentence does not apply, because the appellant was 15 years old at the time when the offence was committed.    In his plea explanation the appellant submitted that he had an argument with someone else and decided to vent his anger on the deceased.   The appellant progressed to Standard 5 at school. He is a first offender.    In the presentence   report  the   probation   officer  mentioned   that  the appellant  was  suspended  from  school   because  of violent     behaviour previously.

As counsel submitted in her heads that section 28 of the constitution applies, this Court is of the view that "detained", however, means incarceration other than after conviction as is evident in the use of the word detained in section 12 of the constitution, that is, "detained without trial". Clearly a criminal conviction is not a matter concerning the child only as contemplated by section 28(2) of the constitution. This Court just wants to draw counsel's attention to this fact.

Inasmuch as the offence was a brutal one that deprived the deceased of her life and deprived her family of her continued existence without any provocation by the deceased, it is clear that a sentence has to be imposed which takes account of the consequences of the offence upon the deceased and her family. However, the Court has to tamper its sentence by taking account of the personal circumstances of the accused, and in this matter the appellant was clearly a youthful offender from   a   very  troubled   and   disturbingly   unstable   domestic background.

specifically for correctional supervision and/or enrolment in some sort of rehabilitation programme.

I agree