'SMS killer' gets extra time

2006-09-28 23:07

Pietermaritzburg - The 18-year-old perpetrator of a bizarre "SMS murder" had his jail sentence increased from 13 years to 20 years by a full Bench of three judges in the High Court here on Thursday.

The State appealed against the sentence of 13 years for the 2003 murder and 10 years for aggravated robbery imposed in April 2004 by Judge Thumba Pillay, sitting in Ramsgate. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

On Thursday, the full Bench imposed 20 years for the murder and 10 years for the aggravated robbery, also to run concurrently.

The drama started when Wesley Neil Julyan's co-perpetrator, Jaco Strauss, who was jailed for 15 years under a plea bargain, sent an SMS to a former lover in England about the killing.

The lover went to police in England and Interpol informed Port Shepstone detective Basil Crause.

SMS played crucial role

After murdering Kenneth van Aarde by strangling him with a shoelace, Strauss and Julyan dumped his body in a bushy area and then buried him near the Julyan home at Mtwalume. They tried to sell his car.

It is doubtful if his body would have been found had it not been for the SMS sent to England.

The trial judge found substantial and compelling circumstances for Julyan, and this allowed him to depart from the prescribed sentence of life for the murder conviction.

The grounds were that Julyan was 18 at the time, was a first offender and that alcohol and drugs played a role in reducing his sense of responsibility.

Speaking for the full Bench, Judge Jan Hugo agreed that these factors constituted substantial and compelling circumstances.

Before Julyan's trial, Strauss entered into a plea bargain with the State and was convicted of murder and theft and sentenced to an effective 15 years' jail.

Judge Hugo said the facts in the plea-bargain statement differed from the facts on which Julyan, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted.

Strauss's conviction was based on facts which rendered him slightly more than a bystander to the murder and a thief who decided to steal Van Aarde's car after the murder.

Julyan was convicted of a lot more. He was directly involved in the murder and conceived the plan to rob Van Aarde of his car long before the murder.

Hugo said the trial court had over-emphasised the importance of Strauss's sentence and had tried to tailor Julyan's sentence on it.

Hugo said the contrition or remorse found by the trial court was not borne out by the facts.

Remorseful about own situation

Contrition was usually present only when a person made a full and honest disclosure of the facts, and events for which he was contrite.

In Julyan's case, the remorse was more about the position in which he found himself after the event and the fact that he was facing a long period in prison.

He was found to be a pathetic witness and lied. That was not a sign of contrition.

- SAPA