Xander Bylsma to appeal life sentences for Stella murders

The tragedy of the Stella hostel murders will be revisited on Friday when Xander Bylsma tries to appeal his sentencing in the double murder case.

He was handed two life sentences for the death of his ex-girlfriend Sharnell Hough, 17, and her friend and his cousin Marna Engelbrecht.

He was 19 at the time of the murders, and, according to the court, he showed behavioural problems at school and was eventually expelled from the school hostel.

Hough was found hanged at a staircase, and Engelbrecht was found strangled in a bathroom at Huis Esterhuizen at Hoerskool Stella High School in North West on 26 May 2018.

ALSO READ: Stella hostel murders: Xander Bylsma found guilty of strangling ex and her friend

On 7 August, Judge Ronald Hendricks in the Mmabatho High Court sentenced Bylsma to life imprisonment on two counts of murder for their deaths.

Hendricks called Bylsma a “self-centred” person who did not think of the results of what he did, and was unable to admit to his wrongdoing.

He found that Bylsma had tried to make Hough’s murder look like a suicide, and murdered Engelbrecht because he knew that she would not approve of her friend rekindling a relationship with Bylsma.

He had also insulted the girls in crude terms before their murder.

North West National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson said it would be to appeal the sentence, and that the State would oppose the application.

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