His counsel suggested a sentence of 30 years as one or more life sentences “will be a death sentence of sorts”, his lawyer, Saleem Halday, told the court this week.
“If a life sentence is handed down on one or more of the abovementioned counts, the accused will be in the region of 83 years old when he can even be considered for parole. This age of 83 is well below the life expectancy in our country. It will be a death sentence of sorts,” he said. In court this week, Halday recalled the accused’s difficult childhood, having been a victim of domestic abuse and violence at the hands of his father. Pangkaeker also grew up in a gang-infested community where crime, the abuse of drugs and alcohol as well as unemployment were evident. Due to financial constraints, he left school at a young age.
But senior state advocate Lenro Badenhorst argued that Pangkaeker is “not a person that has benefited from suspended sentences and/or being on parole”. Nxumalo said he was considered for parole because “he completed his minimum detention period and also completed a series of programmes and interventions, based on his sentence plan”.
300 years
No shit, that’s the point of a life sentence!