A solemn Sabrina van Schoor was convicted in the Grahamstown High Court on Monday of murdering her 48-year-old mother, Beverly, in their Queenstown home in March.
But in a surprising turn of events, Judge Eric Leach refused to convict her co-accused, Feza Mdutshane (27), who admitted to strangling and stabbing the prominent businesswoman to death.
The law requires the High Court to confirm the guilty pleas made by Van Schoor (22), and Mdutshane in the Queenstown Regional Court earlier this month, before convicting them of the murder.
However, Mdutshane on Monday raised a last minute defence of his actions.
Expanding on his written plea explanation, he told Leach he had been coerced by two men to commit the murder. He had twice backed out of killing Van Schoor, he claimed, but had then been warned by these men that he would be killed if he did not carry out the murder.
Leach said he could not accept Mdutshane’s guilty plea as he now claimed to have a defence.
”The interests of justice demand that evidence of material witnesses be led, that cross-examination take place and at the end of the day the court can decide if you are guilty or not”, said Leach.
He entered a plea of not guilty on Mdutshane’s behalf and ordered that separate trials be held for Van Schoor and Mdutshane.
He said he had ”no such reservations” about Van Schoor’s guilty plea.
Earlier, Van Schoor, quietly but firmly confirmed to Leach that she had plotted her mother’s murder three weeks beforehand and had carried it out with Mdutshane’s assistance.
Van Schoor also quietly confirmed her plea explanation in which she admitted she had let Mdutshane into the home she shared with her mother and two-year-old daughter.
She said she had fetched her child from her mother’s room before allowing Mdutshane in to murder the woman. Afterwards she asked Mdutshane to go back into the room to make sure her mother was dead.
Leach said Van Schoor clearly appreciated the wrongfulness of her actions and there could be no doubt she was guilty of murder.
Mdutshane was remanded in custody until June 18 when he will again appear in the Queenstown Regional Court and be arraigned. Meanwhile, Van Schoor’s case was postponed to June 20 for argument on sentencing.
Unless substantial and compelling circumstances are proved, Van Schoor faces a mandatory life-sentence for her premeditated crime. – Sapa