By Estelle Ellis
A Cape High Court judge says the government needs to give urgent attention to the lack of internal and social control in South African society, of which the high incidence of family murders is a symptom.
On Thursday, Judge Siraj Desai sentenced Ceres farmworker Johnny Jooste to 38 years in prison for killing his wife, two children, three sisters-in-law and his brother-in-law.
Jooste's sentence is made up of seven sentences of 20 years' imprisonment for each of the people he killed. Seventeen years of each of the 20-year sentences will run concurrently, while three years will not, making a total of 38 years.
Jooste, 38, pleaded guilty to the seven charges of murder.
He told the court that the massacre was the result of his constantly being taunted by his in-laws and by their interference in his marriage.
"On February 20 last year at Ou Muur Farm, Ceres in the Koue Bokkeveld, I killed my wife Lena, my baby Sanjay, my son Blake and my three sisters-in-law, Janetta Jacobs, Cornelia Visagie and Sophia Swarts, and my brother in law Barend Swarts," he said in his confession to the court.
Judge Desai told him: "No sentence I can give you will ever exceed the painful experience (of killing your family.) The last moments of your loved ones will stay with you for the rest of your life.
"Whatever can be said in your favour, I cannot lose sight of the fact that you have the potential to cause harm to people on this scale," Judge Desai said. "The community needs protection and I need to balance the scales again."
Earlier, forensic psychiatrist Dr Sean Kaliski told the court that the crime was evidence of a general lack of internal control found among South Africans, and also of the culture of aggression that made South Africans feel that they had to respond aggressively to any taunt.
Judge Desai said Jooste's case was not one in which life imprisonment would have been the appropriate sentence.
"Seven human beings were killed in a senseless and gruesome fashion. The sentence of this court must reflect this. But it wasn't a crime committed out of greed like the murders we see in this court every day. These murders had a very specific and unique context," Judge Desai said.
He also declared Jooste unfit to possess a firearm.
After his sentence Jooste took the hands of his brothers and sisters. He cried on one sister's shoulder and talked quietly to them till he was led away by the police.