Woman who married adoptive father imprisoned for his murder
She claimed she suffered years of abuse at his hands.
A 31-year-old Brakpan woman was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment last week for the murder of her adoptive-father-turned-husband.
Cathy van Oudtshoorn was found guilty on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, defeating the ends of justice and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
Cathy shot Chris van Oudtshoorn (58), an electrical engineer, once in the head while he was watching TV in their Denneoord home on the evening of April 11, 2016.
She then staged the scene to look like a robbery.
At the time, Cathy told police she and her adoptive mother, Jorina van Niekerk, had returned home from the shops at about 7.40pm and found Chris’s body on the couch and the house in disarray.
The robbery story failed to convince, and Cathy and Jorina, now aged 58, were arrested a few days later.
Cathy and Chris became romantically involved years later and married.
Cathy and Jorina’s trials were separated and Jorina pleaded guilty as an accessory to murder.
Her involvement included helping Cathy ransack the house following the murder and providing a false statement to police.
She was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, but was released on correctional supervision.
During Cathy’s trial, she admitted to shooting Chris, but claimed he had sexually abused her for years.
Read:Â Daily crime watch
She was sentenced on Tuesday in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria:
• Count one (murder): 20 years’ imprisonment
• Count two (robbery with aggravating circumstances): 10 years’ imprisonment
• Count three (contravening section three of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000): 10 years’ imprisonment
• Count four (contravention of section 90 of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000): three years’ imprisonment
• Count five (defeating or obstructing the course of justice): five years’ imprisonment.
The sentences on counts two, three, four and five will run concurrently with the sentence on count one.
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