SCA must examine pre-sentencing jail time
The issue of awaiting-trial accused who are not out on bail and often sit behind bars for years before they are sentenced – and then receive a life sentence – should be looked at by the SCA.
A Cape Times report says this is according to Western Cape High Court Judge Patrick Gamble, who presided over an appeal by three men convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
They complained that they had been awaiting trial in prison for nearly six years before they were sentenced.
This was because, for several reasons, the trial took a long time to conclude.
According to them, it was unfair that they were each given a life sentence – 25 years in jail before they can be considered for parole – without the judge taking into consideration the six years they had spent locked up before they were sentenced.
Gamble said the period of pre-sentence detention in this matter was extraordinarily long.
He commented that the court was unable to find case law of any comparable period of time which had been considered by any other court.
Gamble referred to two judgments in which judges declined to find that the pre-sentence detention period per se qualified as a substantial and compelling reason to avoid the prescribed sentence of life behind bars.
However, Gamble said those were both judgments of single judges in provincial divisions and provided guidance rather than binding precedent, notes the Cape Times report.
According to him, the question of the plight of awaiting-trial accused who had not been granted bail and who must remain behind bars before their sentences began was therefore a matter of concern.
‘But in light of the fact that the SCA has not yet spoken on the consideration of pre-sentencing detention in cases where the sentence ultimately imposed was life imprisonment warrants, in my respectful view, that leave to appeal be granted in this matter,’ the judge said.
He referred the matter to the SCA to determine whether a lengthy period spent behind bars awaiting the outcome of a criminal trial should have an influence on a possible life sentence.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
