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A man who shot and killed his son during what he thought was a robbery received a suspended prison sentence after the National Fiscal Authority (NPA) successfully appealed his initial sentence.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria confirmed the appeal against a precautionary judgment and initial discharge imposed on Coert Johannes Kruger on September 13, 2019.
The man now faces an eight-year prison sentence, suspended for five years.
The shooting occurred on March 22, 2019 when her son, Coert Jr, 30, broke into a house on his small property.
The alarm went off, so Kruger and a private security company went to investigate.
Dark
Kruger stood outside the house and saw a figure moving on the roof. It was dark and a searchlight was used to try to locate the person.
Kruger then fired a shotgun in the general direction of the figure and heard his son’s voice, expressing pain.
Realizing what had happened, Kruger contemplated the suicide, the court heard during his trial.
According to Vanderbijlpark police spokesman Sergeant Gertrude Makhale, Kruger was arrested before his son’s body could be removed from the roof.
Drug addict
Netwerk24 reported that Coert Jr was a drug addict who ran away from a facility he had entered for rehabilitation in December.
After the shooting, stolen jewelry was found in his possession.
In September last year, Kruger was released without notice. Her son’s death was enough punishment, magistrate Robert Button said.
READ | Dad who killed his son after mistaking him for a thief released after murder conviction
But NPA spokesman Phindi Mjonondwane said Saturday that the state appealed to the Superior Court, alleging that the “sentence was surprisingly inappropriate.”
Challenged
“The NPA contested the magistrate’s decision, citing that, in its finding, the magistrate did not consider the recent jurisprudence set forth in a Lenasia case with similar material facts, in which a father was sentenced to 10 years, suspended for a period of five years for shooting and mistakenly killing his own son, “he said.
The court found that the first sentence was based on an overemphasis on the effect of the crime on the defendant’s psyche.
“The court underestimated the fact that the defendant fired a firearm in the direction of the deceased without any imminent danger or threat to his own life as there was no evidence that the deceased was armed,” found judge Elmarie van der Schyff.
Mjonondwane added: “Although the court was of the opinion that a non-custodial sentence was unjustified. It also held that a long sentence would also not be appropriate as court decisions must also have an element of mercy. The court ruled that, under the circumstances , an eight-year prison sentence, suspended entirely for five years on condition that the defendant is not convicted of a crime of murder, is an appropriate sentence. “
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