A 19-year-old first offender, Joseph Masemola, was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a two-year-old baby boy during an armed robbery at the boy’s Groenkloof home.
Passing sentence Judge Johan Els said that it was high time South Africa looked at re-introducing the death penalty for certain types of crime, as it was the only punishment that would deter some kinds of criminals.
Els said he could not adequately express his horror at the murder of two-year-old Alexander Strydom last year.
Masemola and his friends had entered Alexander’s home in a bid to rob the family. They took along a firearm to overcome possible resistance and to aid their escape.
When the child’s parents, Rousseau and Driekie Strydom, woke up, shots were fired, killing the little boy where he lay sleeping between his parents.
In a case like this the elements of retribution and deterrence came to the fore, said Els. The court had to impose a punishment that would remove Masemola completely from society and would deter other potential criminals.
”I have repeatedly stated that for this type of crime the only fit punishment is the death penalty”, he said.
Els sentenced Masemola to life imprisonment for the boy’s murder and to a further 50 years on charges of housebreaking and attempting to murder Strydom, as well as charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances and the illegal possession of a firearm
and ammunition. These charges related to an incident on the day after the murder, when a security guard was robbed at gunpoint.
Strydom said he agreed with Els that the death penalty was the only proper sentence for the murderer of his child, but since the death sentence was not possible at present, he was satisfied.
He said that he and his wife intended forming a trust in Alexander’s name so as to assist other mothers who were victims of violent crime. They would also launch a campaign to bring back the death penalty. Alexander would not become just another statistic, he vowed. – Sapa