An elderly man who shot dead his teenage lover after receiving a suspended sentence for assaulting her was on Thursday jailed for an effective 15 years.
Moegamat Saiat Patrick (66) was sentenced in the Cape High Court to 20 years’ imprisonment on charges of murder, statutory rape and the illegal possession of a gun and ammunition.
However, as a measure of mercy, acting Judge John Riley lopped five years off the rape and firearm sentences, ordering that they run concurrently with the 15 years for murder.
The case was a sequel to the death on New Year’s Day 2005 of Bernadette Kuboni, who ran away from home at the age of 13 to live with Patrick as his common-law wife. A baby, now two years old, was born from the relationship.
The judge said 15 years is the prescribed minimum sentence for a first-time offender convicted of murder that was not premeditated.
He said the courts cannot deviate from such sentences on flimsy grounds and that there are no substantial or compelling reasons for a reduction in Patrick’s case.
An aggravating factor was that Patrick had previously received a suspended sentence for assaulting the girl, but this had not deterred him.
The judge said Patrick obtained the gun illegally and, instead of handing it to the authorities, he boasted about it in acts of bravado.
”What makes this case particularly serious is that you are old enough to have been the dead girl’s grandfather,” Riley told Patrick. ”She was unhappy living with you, but could not get away from you. You could have ended the relationship, but did not want to.
”You were not happy with her behaviour, so you took the law into your own hands.”
Riley said he shuddered at the thought of the baby’s future. — Sapa