Cape Town - “This is the mother of your child, this is femicide by a man who killed his wife in a barbaric, heinous crime.”
These were part of the State’s final statements in the Mitchells Plain Regional Court yesterday during the sentencing proceedings of Donovan Titus, convicted in July of killing his wife, Candice, 28.
The State brought it before court that it was Titus’s male ego that led him to stab Candice 30 times because she had brought home contractors, making him feel disrespected.
The two had been married for two years before the murder occurred in their Mitchells Plain home in 2015.
Yesterday the court again heard that Titus maintained his innocence, claiming an intruder broke into their home and stabbed Candice with a knife.
Before the State read out WhatsApp messages between the couple in which Titus called his wife a pig, the court heard how the couple’s young daughter had drawn a three-part picture depicting how she felt.
“She was 7 years old when she drew it. The first picture shows her and her mom happy. This was before the incident. The second, her face changes from happy to sad and she has tears coming from her eyes.
“When asked about the tears, she said she wished that her mommy was still here, and that she loves and misses her mommy, and that she is sad. She lastly asks why she has to grow up without a mom.”
The State said for that reason it could not accept that there were circumstantial or compelling evidence to lessen the minimum sentence of 15 years.
“The final consequences can never be calculated because the real victims here are a mother and her daughter,” the State argued.
Titus’s Legal Aid representative argued that her client should get the minimum sentence, with a half suspended sentence, amounting to seven and a half years’ imprisonment.
The defence said reports from Titus’s family described him as a respectable, friendly, pleasant and not aggressive person who was loved by everyone.
The court heard that Titus had no previous convictions or pending cases, and that in the nine years he had been out on bail, he did not commit any crime.
“The defence takes into account the seriousness of the case. It’s murder. This very word expresses how serious it is and nothing can take away how serious it is and that a life cannot be brought back. But we ask the court to bestow mercy when sentencing the accused.
“Give him another opportunity, this was a once-off incident.”
Sentence will be passed today.
tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za
Cape Argus