ABERDEEN NEWS — On Wednesday morning May 3, the sentence was passed down in the Grahamstown High Court on Winston Salie Booysen of Aberdeen, who was found guilty on March 13 on two counts of murder and one of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The first charge was for the murder of his ex- girlfriend Brenda Finis at the end of November 2015. For this, Booysen was given a sentence of 15 years. The second charge was also of murder, of the farmer Schalk Featherstone on his farm Glen Loch in December 2015. Featherstone was shot in his home, and the perpetrator drove off in his bakkie, which was found abandoned on the farm road. He was also given 15 years for this, with 8 years for the theft of the bakkie to run concurrently.

During sentencing, Acting Judge Mabece commented that she had no reason to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentences for these offences, as Booysen was an unrepentant criminal, with no prospects for rehabilitation and no regard for human life or respect for the law. She said that he showed no remorse, and was a danger to society and that the duty of the court was to remove him from society.

This gives a total of 30 years imprisonment. Featherstone’s daughter Jeanine Ihlenfeldt, who was in court, reported that State Advocate Jan Engelbrecht objected to the sentence, claiming that the judge had in fact contradicted herself. “The minimum sentence for the murder of his 20-year-old girlfriend should have been 20 years, and for the premeditated murder of the vulnerable elderly farmer, he should have been sentenced to life imprisonment,” said Ihlenveldt.

The State has been granted leave to appeal, and the matter will be referred to the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein.

'We bring you the latest Aberdeen, Karoo news'