Kimberley - Johannes Vorster will spend the next 10 years behind bars after escaping the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 for killing his girlfriend, Talita Vos.
The Northern Cape High Court described on Wednesday the murder as a crime of passion.
Judge Cecille Williams, before handing down her sentence, said that there were compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed sentence.
“As a 47-year-old man, the accused has no history of violent crime. He did have a previous conviction for theft but that was committed in 2004.
“It is understandable and human that one would be angry, disappointed and hurt if you found out your partner of 12 years had been unfaithful. There was also a measure of provocation from the deceased when she threw a plate at the accused.
“The accused also showed remorse for his actions as he called an ambulance after realising the deceased was not breathing,” she said.
Williams, however, also warned that Vorster’s actions could have been avoided had he been sober.
“There is not much information about the deceased before the court. What is known is that she was 33 years old and weighed 50 kilograms, which means she would not have been able to defend herself against the accused.
“The accused admitted that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time and might have had more control if he had been sober. One also has to bear in mind that he was emotional after finding out about the affair and his alcohol intake may have spiked those emotions,” Williams said.
Vos died on August 24 2012 after a domestic dispute with Vorster.
According to the post-mortem the cause of death was strangulation and she had multiple fractured ribs, while her liver was grey.
Vorster, in his plea statement, admitted to killing Vos.
He said the incident happened after he saw Vos talking to and standing close to another man.
He said he then suspected that Vos was having an affair with the man.
According to Vorster’s statement, Vos confirmed the affair when he asked her why she had not dished up food for him.
She then threw a plate of food at him.
He said he throttled Vos, who went to the bathroom and vomited.
After returning from the bathroom he then hit her in the stomach and assaulted her, bashing her against the floor.
He said he later went outside to smoke and when he returned to the room, he saw Vos lying on the floor.
He went to her and told her to clean up her mess but she was motionless.
He said he grabbed her and saw that her mouth was blue.
He then tried to give her mouth-to-mouth and to resuscitate her and saw that she had some meat in her mouth. He asked neighbours to call an ambulance.
DFA
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