Earlier this year, on 8 January, the Roodepoort Regional Court found Marthinus Pelser guilty of premeditated murder.
Today, 16 February, Magistrate Delize Smith sentenced Pelser to life imprisonment.
Also Read: D-Day for baby killer Pelser
This comes after both the victim impact report and pre-sentencing report brought before the court last week did not bode well for Pelser . The only “mitigating” circumstance that Pelser’s lawyer could come up with was his age. The social worker who compiled the pre-sentencing report said that due to the fact that Pelser refused to accept responsibility for his actions, he could not be rehabilitated at this stage.
Read more: #PelserTrial: Accused finally takes the stand
Last week State Prosecutor Paseka Temeki asked for a life sentence to be handed down, saying there were no extraordinary circumstances and that Pelser refused to accept responsibility. He highlighted the fact that Pelser did not only murder “a human being, but his own son”. He also said the fact that each of the injuries on their own could have killed six-month-old Deon, showed Pelser’s intend to kill the infant. According to Temeki neither Pelser nor his legal representative had put anything before the court that could deviate from a life sentence.
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