The applicant, Mr Wayne Anthony Wickham, is the father of an 18-year-old who died as a passenger in a motor vehicle accident on 10 February 2012. The driver, Ms Annika Slabbert, collided with a stationary vehicle, resulting in the deaths of Mr Wickham’s son and the occupant of the stationary vehicle. Ms Slabbert was charged with two counts of culpable homicide. During the prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) entered into a plea and sentence agreement with Ms Slabbert in terms of section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act. Mr Wickham strongly opposed the agreement, believing the sentence to be too lenient given alleged aggravating factors such as excessive speed, alcohol consumption and overloading of the vehicle. Although he made extensive written and oral representations to the prosecution, the Magistrate refused to accept his proposed victim impact statement or hear his evidence, finding that he lacked standing and that the statement dealt with the merits in a manner inconsistent with the agreed factual matrix. Ms Slabbert was convicted on the plea agreement and sentenced to a fine and correctional supervision. Mr Wickham unsuccessfully sought to have the conviction and sentence set aside in the High Court and thereafter applied for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court.