Cape Town – The boyfriend of Manenberg grandmother Magdalene Isaacs has been sentenced to just 14 years in jail despite confessing to viciously stabbing the elderly woman to death.
Trevor “Toyer’ Michaels, 50, appeared in the Wynberg Regional Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to the murder of the 63-year-old, who was found dead in her home in Irvine Street on 10 February.
In a confession read out by his lawyer in court, Michaels admitted that he was upset with his girlfriend after she went on a trip with a friend, and when he arrived at her home that day, Magdalene dumped him and told him she needed space.
“I went blank and went to the kitchen to fetch a knife and walked to the deceased and stabbed her in the neck and in the stomach,” the lawyer read.
“The deceased then walked to the room and I followed her and stabbed her in the neck again.
“She collapsed between the bed and the cupboard and I then sat on the bed for a few minutes and contemplated suicide.”
The lawyer said Michaels tried to hang himself, but the chair he used broke so, instead, he wrote a letter confessing to the murder and fled the scene.
He asked the court to have mercy on Michaels as he had pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation.
But the State prosecutor called for the minimum prescribed sentence of 15 years in jail due to the seriousness of the crime.
In his judgment, the magistrate said he took into account the accused’s state of mind, his age and his confession.
“I have looked at your personal circumstances and this incident occurred under circumstances that you were unhappy that the deceased was out with someone else.
“The court is not there to take revenge on behalf of the community. The court, in its determination, has to look at the aggravating circumstances and the mitigating circumstances.
“Your personal circumstances show that you acted on the spur of the moment and you are not a young person.
“I have decided to deviate from the minimum sentence and you are to be sentenced to 14 years in prison.”
Outside court, Magdalene’s daughter Gail, 32, said the family was not happy with the sentence.
“We are not happy, but what can we do? I said from the start that we are leaving it in God’s hands,” she said.
Daily Voice