In a legal reversal, the Kimberley High Court has slashed Abraham September’s life imprisonment sentence to 23 years, ruling that the original punishment for stabbing his cousin to death was “startlingly disproportionate.”

This decision came following an appeal before the full bench.

September confessed to the killing, admitting that on November 6, 2012, an altercation with his cousin escalated. He recounted that he went to his cousin, whom he grew up with, to tell her that her younger brother had taken him to Bakhwetha Valley, where he (September) was robbed. He was looking for her brother so they could search for the robbers.

As he repeatedly mentioned this to her, she became annoyed and reprimanded him. According to September, the cousin pushed him, and he fell.

“I left and returned to look for her younger brother. She enquired why I was seated on a couch, and an altercation ensued. I followed her to the kitchen and stabbed her several times with a knife,” September stated in his confession. 

The cousin managed to free herself and collapsed outside. September later admitted that his cousin did nothing to warrant the attack, and he handed the murder weapon to the police on his arrest.

When the trial court sentenced September, it noted that he stabbed his cousin seven times in her heart and lungs; she was unarmed and killed in her home. It also noted that September was raised by the cousin’s parents.

The court also found that September had no exceptional circumstances that would allow it to deviate from the minimum sentence. It noted his previous convictions, which include a 2001 murder. In that murder, he was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. 

September’s 2012 murder conviction resulted in a life sentence from the trial court, which noted that he had been responsible for taking two lives. However, Legal Aid lawyer PJ Fourie contested the harshness of the sentence, arguing that September’s status as a second offender should not have been treated as an aggravating factor justifying a life sentence.

Northern Cape Deputy Judge President Mathebe Phatshoane, delivering the appeal judgment, noted that as a second offender, September faced a minimum of 20 years in the absence of substantial and compelling circumstances. 

However, she found that the trial court’s primary motivation for the life sentence – that September had taken the lives of two people – overlooked the fact that he had already been sentenced for the previous murder.

Judge Phatshoane stated: “In my view, a sentence of life imprisonment is startlingly disproportionate to the sentence we propose to impose and cannot be just.”

While acknowledging that a guilty plea doesn’t always show remorse, and agreeing that the cumulative effect of the circumstances warranted a sentence greater than the prescribed minimum, the court ultimately substituted the sentence.

September was re-sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment, antedated to February 4, 2015.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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