At least two of the Waterkloof Four should not be sentenced to long prison terms for killing a man and assaulting another, the Pretoria Regional Court heard on Monday.
Christoff Becker’s and Frikkie du Preez’s court-appointed probation officials recommended prison sentences, but both said they should not be for an extended period.
The officials of their two co-accused, Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt, are expected to testify on Tuesday.
The four had been convicted in 2005 of assaulting a first victim in Constantia Park, Pretoria, then kicking and punching to death a second man in a park in Moreleta, while returning from a night club in Hatfield.
Becker’s probation officer, Erna Pieterse, and Du Preez’s officer, Heidrun Buhrow, recommended prison sentences but said the minimum 15-year sentence should not apply.
In both cases they cited the age of the two, the personality types and the fact that they were under the influence of alcohol when the crimes were committed.
They also contended that the overcrowded prison service was not the perfect place for rehabilitation of the two.
But, again, in both cases the two young men’s denials — they admitted to assaulting a man but denied that it was the same man they were convicted for — meant that they did not show remorse and that prison might bring them to other insights.
In Becker’s case, Pieterse recommended that the court should not consider the required minimum sentence of 15 years. Under cross-examination by his lawyer, advocate Jaap Celliers SC, Pieterse said some prison time with some of it suspended might be considered.
In Du Preez’s case Buhrow said a substantially shorter term than the 15 years should be considered. She said the provision under which he only served one sixth of his sentence before being put on parole could be considered.
The Pretoria High Court has already referred the case back to the regional court for sentencing, saying they could not be given a life sentence — 25 years — before parole could be considered, because they were minors at the time of committing the crimes.
The court ruled that magistrate Len Kotze has the authority to consider a lesser sentence. — Sapa