Cape town - The defence lawyer of convicted 22-year-old murderer Jevon Snyman has urged the Western Cape High Court to consider his client’s personal circumstances when deciding on his sentence.
Snyman was, in July, found guilty of murder as well as the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition for the 2013 shooting of Cape Town matric pupil Glenrico Martin in 2013.
The court found that Snyman had acted with common purpose when, together with Wilston Stoffels, he went to Spes Bona secondary school in Athlone with the intention of killing 18-year-old Martin.
Stoffels is currently serving a 24-year sentence for the May 2013 shooting after accepting a plea bargain with the State. He admitted to pulling the trigger which killed the Manenberg teenager.
Earlier on Tuesday, defence lawyer Mohamed Sibda argued, in mitigation of sentence, that Snyman had already spent time in prison, had an abusive and alcoholic father while growing up and was subjected to intimidation by gang members from an early age.
He urged Western Cape High Court judge Lister Nuku to consider the “reformative aspect” when sentencing, and said there were substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the minimum sentence prescribed by legislation.
Sibda told the court that Snyman did not accept that he’s guilty and had denied handing over the firearm to Stoffels used in the shooting.
According to probation officer, Zolani Manona’s pre-sentence report, Snyman was delivered by normal birth at home in Heideveld and reached all his developmental milestones.
But, at age three he suffered a “head injury where he fell off a moving vehicle (bakkie) which resulted in the accused having 16 stitches on the head”.
Snyman, according to the report “experienced intimidation on a daily basis on his way to and from school as he had to go through Bridgetown area where gang members allegedly always targeted him”.
As a result, he failed grade 8 and dropped out of school in grade 9.
The report states that Snyman admitted he belonged to the G-Unit gang of Bokmakierie since 2011 and had “tattoos on his shoulders, back, chest, arms and on the legs”.
He further admitted to the probation officer that he had belonged to the 26s prison gang since 2014 “for protection and survival purposes”.
Snyman has one previous conviction – the illegal possession of a dangerous dependence-producing substance for which he received a caution in July 2012.
Manona also interviewed the deceased’s family and detailed the devastation they have experienced since Martin’s death.
“It’s the deceased’s family opinion that the accused never showed any remorse for his wrong actions.”
The report concluded that “the officer is of the strong opinion that the court need to send a clear message to others who are contemplating committing (similar) serious crimes” and recommended a sentence of direct imprisonment.
But, Sibda said Snyman had never had a positive male role model to emulate and that the absence of father figures had had “a domino effect and lead youngsters to criminal activity” and this should be taken into account when the court considered an appropriate sentence.
He told the court Snyman’s father had visited him just once in the two and a half years he’s been behind bars.
The case was postponed to October 15 for sentencing.
ANA