The appellant and a co-accused pleaded guilty in the North West Division of the High Court to murder read with s 51(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 and robbery. They brutally murdered the deceased during a planned robbery of his motor vehicle in July 2009, strangling him, repeatedly assaulting him with stones, and abandoning him alive in the boot of the vehicle. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery, running concurrently. On appeal, the co-accused’s sentence was reduced by a differently constituted full court, while the appellant’s appeal was dismissed by another full court, leading to this appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.