Cape Town - Convicted double murderer Levonna Jacobs may never see the light of day again after she received an “indefinite” sentence on Thursday.
This means she will be spending the next 25 years behind bars, after which she will have to prove to a judge that she is remorseful and eligible for parole.
If she fails, the judge may sentence her to more years in jail.
The 40-year-old remained stone-faced to the bitter end as Judge Mushtak Parker called her “unpredictable, greedy and a most dangerous criminal” who left her cousin’s children orphaned and homeless.
“Not only did you kill their mother but you took the money meant to feed them, you took the food out of their mouth,” he said.
Parker was referring to the Sassa card of Levonna’s cousin Rowena Jacobs, which she had used for her own benefit after killing her.
Parker added Jacobs showed psychopathic traits and was a narcissist who lacked remorse and empathy.
He described her as “devious and highly intelligent” and said she schemed to kill Rowena, 26, and her aunt, Virna Jacobs, 47, and hide their bodies.
“The public needs to be protected against you as you pose a danger,” Parker stated.
“Your sentence is an indefinite and undetermined one, where you will be brought before another judicial officer for your sentence to be determined.”
He said Levonna would be brought back before court after 25 years, on 19 September 2044, for a judge to reconsider her sentence.
At that time, she would be assessed by a new panel of psychologists and psychiatrists.
During her trial, a panel of experts said Levonna “was currently dangerous and if released she was unpredictable and could do it again to someone else”.
Levonna was convicted of 10 charges relating to murder, theft, fraud, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.
In addition to the life sentences for the murders, for the two counts of theft she received 18 months and a R3000 fine or six months behind bars respectively.
For incitement to commit murder she got two years, for the assault common six months suspended for three years, for the kidnapping five years, for fraud six months suspended for three years, and for defeating the ends of justice 12 months.
Parker said Levonna had plotted the murders of Virna and Rowena at Sering Street, Delft South, from the time that her uncle, Donovan Jacobs, passed away in March 2015, all in order to get her hands on his house, which he had left to Virna, his wife.
Several months after they disappeared, the women’s bodies were dug up in their backyard by family and cops in December 2015.
They had been suffocated to death.
In the meantime, Levonna had taken control of their affairs by moving into their home.
Outside court, Virna’s sister, Nonita Witbooi, was overcome with emotion and said: “Justice has finally been served. We can close this chapter, we can start the healing process.”