The family of slain Suritha Alting, 28, and civic organisation Action Society have expressed disappointment at the sentence handed down to the teenager who murdered the make-up artist about a year ago.
Xolani du Preez was sentenced to two years and 245 days in a child youth care facility and eight years’ imprisonment in the Parow Regional Court on Monday for Alting’s murder.
Du Preez, at the age of 17, robbed and stabbed Alting as she returned home from a restaurant in Richwood, Cape Town.
He pleaded guilty to murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances under the Child Justice Act.
The Parow magistrate also found the killer unfit to possess a firearm.
Alting’s father Francois du Plessis, expressed his disappointment at the outcome of the sentencing.
"I did not expect to hear this. I honestly thought he would get a harsher punishment because it's such a serious case. I am at a loss for words; I'm just really upset that the law allows this."
Action Society’s Kaylynn Palm added: "It is very concerning. Even though he was 17 when he committed the crime, he knew what he was doing.
“He stabbed her 16 times, three times in the chest, once in the abdomen, and the rest in other parts of the body.
“Listening to Suritha's father in court was really sad; he couldn't hold back his tears when he described his only daughter. He was devastated. After the judgment was announced, we were shocked, and so was her father."
The NPA noted that the accused was a juvenile at the time he committed the crimes and the prosecutor had called Suritha's father to testify in aggravation of sentence.
Cape Times