Wife killer Packham’s leave to appeal denied

Businessman Rob Packham’s bid for leave to appeal his murder conviction was dismissed in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.

According to Judge Elize Steyn, there were no reasonable prospects for the appeal’s success, or “any other compelling reason why the appeal should be heard”.

This despite Packham’s defence arguing last week that there were reasonable prospects of another court finding him innocent.

Packham was sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing his wife Gill on June 12.

Steyn, deviating from the minimum sentence of 15 years, sentenced the 58-year-old Constantia businessman to twenty years for murder and four years, two of which were suspended, for defeating the ends of justice.

READ MORE: Rob Packham found guilty of wife’s murder

Packham had been married to his wife for almost 31 years, but the couple had been having marital problems because of his infidelities, before her disappearance on February 22, last year. She did not arrive for work at the usual time of 7.30am and her body was later found in the boot of her burnt-out BMW near the Diep River train station.

Steyn rejected Packham’s version that she could have been the victim of a random hijacking and instead found that Packham was “a crafty deceiver”, agreeing with the State that his conduct was “incomprehensible” and had been indicative of guilt.

Steyn highlighted the seriousness of the offence, indicating that the court was obliged to sentence the accused to at least 15 years in jail unless “substantial and compelling circumstances” for a less severe sentence could be proven. She added that in her view, there were several factors to justify a greater sentence.

These included that Packham showed disregard for the life of his wife and family, that his wife Gill’s murder was callous, brutal and shocking, that Packham was deceitful in his version of events and that he showed no remorse for the death of his wife. Steyn said Packham had driven around in her car with the body in the boot after murdering her in her own home and that he had removed the licence plates and later set it alight, the “ultimate morally reprehensible act”.

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