#Swordmurder: Final pleas by lawyer and state

Family's interests before society's interests, asks lawyer.

Picture: Pixabay

Pierre Bauermeister, 18, will be sentenced tomorrow (19 July) for the murder of his grandmother in December 2014.

Bauermeister was arrested a month before his 17th birthday.

This morning’s proceedings had to be adjourned because Magistrate Delize Smith requested that a representative of Bosasa Youth Development Centre testifies first. Bauermeister will serve at least a part of his sentence at the centre. State Prosecutor Danette van Schalkwyk managed to get Monica Monale to take the stand. Monale told the court that social workers, educators and a contracted clinical psychologist assist the youths at the centre in their rehabilitation. She also said that there is a rigorous schedule of training, therapy and other programmes at the centre.

In his arguments in mitigation of sentence, Bauermeister’s lawyer Hans Badenhorst said the murder was a “human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions”.

“It is a tragedy because after losing the grandmother, a sister can not come to terms with losing her brother and her grandmother, and parents are left questioning themselves. And then there is the young man who committed a senseless act. A society is left shocked and confused, asking why did he do it,” said Badenhorst. He went on to say that most of the testimonies the court heard supported the fact that certain negative incidents in his developmental years all culminated in the crime. He also cited Bauermeister’s involvement in the occult as a reason for his metamorphosis. Badenhorst said that during his time in incarceration Bauermeister showed remorse and that he has turned his back on the evil he was involved in. He asked the court to be merciful in its sentencing and that it should take the interests of the family into account over that of society. Badenhorst suggested to the court that Bauermeister should serve his sentence at the Bosasa Youth Development Centre until he is 21 and that the court should then reconsider his sentence, taking into account his progress over that period.

Van Schalkwyk in turn called the case “highly emotional”. She said because Bauermeister pleaded guilty it showed he had remorse. She also suggested that he would serve his sentence at the centre and be re-evaluated at the age of 21.

“The ball is now in his court whether he is going to change his life for the better or not. It is now his responsibility as to what he is going to do in the next three years,” concluded Van Schalkwyk.

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