Director of Public Prosecutions, Gauteng Local Division, Johannesburg v Pule Andrew Ramolefi

The respondent was convicted in the regional court of murder committed in April 2013 and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment under the minimum sentence regime in the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997. Leave to appeal was granted only against sentence. On appeal, the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court set aside the sentence and imposed a sentence of five years’ imprisonment wholly suspended, based largely on findings of extreme provocation and diminished responsibility. The State, dissatisfied with this outcome, obtained special leave and sought to appeal the substituted sentence to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The appeal was struck from the roll for lack of jurisdiction.

The case reaffirms the strictly limited nature of the State’s right to appeal against sentence in South African criminal procedure. It confirms that neither the Superior Courts Act nor section 311 of the Criminal Procedure Act allows the State to appeal to the SCA against sentences imposed by High Courts sitting as courts of appeal, even where those sentences are manifestly lenient or based on serious misdirections. The judgment highlights a potential legislative lacuna but underscores the constitutional and policy constraints on prosecutorial appeal rights.