S v Hermanus

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: Hefer JA, Vivier JA and Harms JA
• Judgment Date: 16 September 1994
• Citation: 1995 (1) SACR 10 (A)
• Hearing Date: 16 September 1994
• Counsel: J A du Plessis for the appellant A A L Neill for the State
• Court: Appellate Division

Vivier JA:

The appellant, on her plea of guilty, was convicted in the magistrate's court on a charge of dealing in dangerous dependence-producing drugs in contravention of s 2(c) of Act 41 of 1971. She was sentenced to four years' imprisonment of which two years' E imprisonment was conditionally suspended for five years. Her appeal to the Witwatersrand Local Division against sentence failed. Subsequently leave was granted upon petition to appeal to this Court against the sentence.

After hearing argument this Court allowed the appeal, stating that reasons and the order would be furnished later. The reasons and order follow. F

At the trial the appellant admitted to having sold 20 tablets containing phendimetrazine, a dangerous dependence-producing substance, commonly known as Obex. She had obtained the Obex tablets lawfully on a medical doctor's prescription for her own use in order to lose weight and had G previously given some Obex tablets to a friend of hers. The friend was arrested and informed the police that she had obtained the tablets from the appellant. A trap was set up and on 14 March 1990, and in Eloff Street, Johannesburg, the appellant sold the 20 tablets to a policeman acting as a trap at a price of R7 per tablet after he had informed her that her friend had sent him to her. Although the appellant had been charged with possessing six more tablets with the intention of selling H them, this was not proved.

The appellant is a 33-year-old woman and the mother of two children aged 12 and seven years who are dependent on...