The State has questioned the sincerity of tears shed by convicted killer and former radio DJ Donald “Duck” Sebolai.
|||Johannesburg - State Prosecutor Elize Le Roux on Thursday told the Johannesburg High Court sitting at Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court that she found repeated claims that muder accused Donald “Duck” Sebolai did not have the propensity for violence astounding.
In October Sebolai was found guilty of murder and of obstructing justice, but was acquitted of the charge of theft.
The former Jozi FM community radio presenter stabbed his girlfriend Rachel “Dolly” Tshabalala in the lower abdomen and left her to bleed to death in her Soweto flat.
Le Roux said claims that the former DJ was not violent were “astounding” because Sebolai told the court “that he would reprimand his partner if she didn’t listen to him”.
Le Roux said that the view that domestic violence “was not serious” was not how the courts viewed things.
“Our courts have on several occasions indicated that that is not how the South African justice system views domestic violence,” she said.
“A message needs to be sent by the courts that this country won’t tolerate this kind of violence in our society.
“We see that there was repetitive nature of violence by Sebolai on other women who never pushed through with the cases opened against him and they felt that they had to protect him,” Le Roux argued in aggravation of sentence.
She added that the state submitted several impact statements from Tshabalala’s mother, which showed how the murder had affected her life drastically.
Le Roux said that Tshabalala had her own dreams and was studying towards her psychology degree and it was all destroyed by one senseless violent act.
“Her daughter will have to live with this vacuum in her life without the guidance of her mother,” said Le Roux.
Le Roux informed the court of a study that showed that 57% of women who died in South Africa were killed by their intimate partners.
“The accused carried a mask which was a man of kindness and rejected violence against women and preached to people, but what we saw in court was a different person, who humiliated the deseased over the short time that they were together,” said Le Roux.
In a report available to the court, Sebolai said that he hated women.
“He blamed her (Tshabalala) for all their hardship,” Le Roux argued.
“I find the tears of the accused questionable and I don’t believe that he is remorseful.”
Le Roux said that the moment Sebolai mopped the floor and fled with Tshabalala’s car, it showed a man who wasn’t remorseful.
“We still don’t know what happened on that night in the flat.”
She added that there were no compelling reasons for the court to give a lesser sentence.
“It’s underestimating the courts intelligence by saying that he was in shock hence he mopped up the flat while Tshabalala’s life was seeping away.”
After listening to both mitgation and aggravation arguements, Judge Cassim Moosa said he needed time to apply his mind.
He adjourned to court to 4 March.
African News Agency
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