The appellant, a South African Police Service constable, was involved in an altercation with his neighbour’s family in Evander, Mpumalanga. After a confrontation escalated, the appellant was assaulted by the deceased, Hendrick Jansen van Rensburg, who struck him with a sjambok while another person assaulted him with fists. During the ongoing assault, the appellant discharged his service firearm, shooting the deceased. The deceased later died from complications arising from the gunshot wound. The appellant was charged with murder and pointing of a firearm, convicted of culpable homicide and pointing of a firearm, sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide, and declared unfit to possess a firearm. On appeal, the conviction and sentence for pointing of a firearm were set aside, but the sentence for culpable homicide and the firearm unfitness declaration were confirmed. The appellant appealed further to the Supreme Court of Appeal only against the sentence for culpable homicide and the firearm declaration.
The appeal was upheld. The sentence of five years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide was set aside and substituted with a sentence of seven months’ imprisonment, antedated to 6 February 2013. The High Court’s confirmation of the declaration that the appellant was unfit to possess a firearm was set aside.
The case is significant for clarifying appellate intervention in sentencing where a trial court misdirects itself or imposes a disproportionate sentence. It also reinforces the peremptory nature of the enquiry required under s 103(2) of the Firearms Control Act before a court may declare an accused unfit to possess a firearm.