North West man gets life sentence overturned after killing pregnant wife with ‘half of a scissor’

A 41-year-old North West man, who fatally stabbed his pregnant wife with scissors, has successfully overturned his life imprisonment sentence.

Warning: This story contains content that may be unsettling to sensitive readers.

The father was found to have killed the deceased in “a brutal fashion in full view” of their children in 2022.

A postmortem report revealed that the woman, referred to as MCM in a court judgment, was pregnant at the time of her death.

North West man admits to killing pregnant wife

The man, identified only as TEM, confessed and pleaded guilty to murdering his wife on 9 October 2022 in Koilang village, North West.

In a statement signed on 29 May 2023 and submitted through his lawyer during his trial at the Taung Regional Court, he disclosed details of the crime.

TEM revealed that on the day of the murder, he was at home doing laundry and had no food.

He waited for his wife to return from work to ask her for money.

The man stated that he saw his wife walking with their two children to the taxi and decided to follow them to make the request.

However, an argument erupted before she could get into the taxi, and he lost his temper.

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He admitted to pulling out “half of a scissor” that he had with him and stabbing his wife.

After she collapsed to the ground, he left her there and returned home.

The next day, he turned himself in to the police and was arrested for murder.

He also admitted that he had not acted in self-defence, as his wife was unarmed and posed no threat to his life.

“I further admit that I intended to kill the deceased, a reasonable person in my position would have foreseen that the deceased might die if I stabbed the deceased several times on the chest and back with half of a scissor. I, therefore, admit that the postmortem is true and correct. I further admit that I did not have any defence in law for my actions.

“I admit that I was at all material times aware of my actions, which is punishable by law. I regret what I did and ask this court for mercy and leniency,” the statement reads.

Father sentenced to life imprisonment

The state confirmed that it would not be calling more witnesses after accepting TEM’s guilty plea.

Instead, the prosecution submitted a postmortem report and a photo album depicting the wounds on the deceased.

Victim impact statements from the couple’s three children — a 19-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 16 and 8 — were also presented.

The state argued that there were no “substantial and compelling circumstances” to justify a sentence lighter than the life imprisonment of 25 years.

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TEM’s legal team sought a lesser sentence, arguing that he was remorseful, capable of rehabilitation, and a first-time offender.

On 7 July 2023, the Taung Regional Court sentenced TEM to life imprisonment for premeditated murder.

TEM applied for leave to appeal his sentence with the North West High Court in Mahikeng, which was heard on 20 June 2024.

His appeal focused solely on the sentence, not the conviction.

North West High Court appeal judgment

In a judgment delivered this week, Acting Judges Nicolaas Laubscher and Andrew Scarrot focused primarily on whether the murder had been premeditated.

Referring to several prior court cases, they concluded that TEM’s guilty plea provided “no proof” of premeditation.

“The appellant states that the murder was committed in a fit of rage because he lost his temper.

“As such, there was no evidence before the trial court that the murder of the deceased – heinous as it was – was ‘planned’ or ‘premeditated’,” the judgment reads.

Laubscher and Scarrot also determined that the state had failed to prove that the murder was planned or premeditated.

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They further concluded that the regional court had “misdirected itself” and should have imposed the minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, as mandated by the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

“As such, the trial court’s jurisdiction as to sentence in this matter was statutorily restricted to imposing a term of imprisonment not exceeding 20 years.

“The trial court exceeded this statutory jurisdictional limit in sentencing the appellant to imprisonment for life.”

As a result, the 41-year-old man won his appeal and had his sentence reduced to 20 years in prison.