Cape Town - Judge Elize Steyn will hear wife killer Rob Packham’s appeal application next week - even though he allegedly showed contempt by muttering “bulls***” and “rubbish” during her sentencing last week.
The hearing will take place on Wednesday, where Packham’s behaviour is expected to be raised.
Packham’s open and angry disapproval, which included shaking his head over 30 times in disagreement, was viewed by nearly 8000 people who tuned into the YouTube live stream of the sentencing on June 12.
Court etiquette is that neither
lawyers or the convicted person display an emotional response during sentencing.
But the live stream showed that at around 30 minutes into Steyn’s scathing sentencing, Packham sneers, shakes his head and mutters “rubbish” when the judge notes that Gill (his wife) was “attacked and murdered in the sanctity of her own home” last February.
Then less than a minute later, when Judge Steyn says: “Not only did he kill his wife and try to hide this from law enforcement”, Packham - still visibly angry - mutters “bulls***” and continues to shake his head while the judge describes his murderous behaviour as “morally reprehensible”.
Packham’s head shaking came at virtually every point of the murder narrative laid down in Judge Steyn’s judgment: that Gill was “bludgeoned to death in cold blood”; that Packham drove around with her body in the boot of her car which he later set alight; that he did not report his wife missing; and that he allowed her to die instead of seeking medical help.
In the livestream footage, Packham could be seen almost popping his tightly-clenched jaw during Judge Steyn’s observation that he may have murdered Gill for “selfish or
self-indulgent reasons to get his own way, to live a life that he said he loved but without his wife who he said he did not love”.
Curiously, after earlier telling the court he had no idea how Gill was murdered, Packham shakes his head when Judge Steyn declares Gill’s murder to be “callous, brutal and shocking. She must have died a painful, gruesome death, suffering extreme shock and horror in the last moments of her life realising who her attacker was”.
He also disagreed that Gill had been trying to restore their marriage.
The one time Packham stops shaking his head is when Judge Steyn looks at him in the eye, saying: “Not once did he mention that he misses his wife or feels sympathy for his children”.
Instead of maintaining direct eye contact, Packham drops his head and surveils her from over his spectacles.
The National Prosecuting Authority declined to comment but a source in the office said: “A convicted person is supposed to sit there and show no emotion. Packham’s behaviour could be viewed as contempt.”
Packham’s legal team did not respond to questions, but an informed source revealed that Judge Steyn raised Packham’s disagreement with them in chambers.