S v Kriel

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Court: Supreme Court of Appeal
• Judge: Cloete JA, Cachalia JA and Meer AJA
• Judgment Date: 01 June 2011
• Citation: 2012 (1) SACR 1 (SCA)
• Hearing Date: 26 May 2011
• Docket Number: 483/2010 [2011] ZASCA 113
• Counsel: PC Bezuidenhout SC (with L Barnard) for the appellant. AA Watt for the State.

Meer AJA (Cloete JA and Cachalia JA concurring):

I [1] This matter comes before us on appeal with leave of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. It is an appeal against a sentence imposed in a regional court. For the reasons set out in this judgment, the issue before us is not the appeal itself on the merits, but whether the petition for leave to appeal to the KwaZulu-Natal High Court against the sentence imposed in the Vryheid regional court should have been granted by the J KwaZulu-Natal High Court.

Meer AJA

[2] The relevant facts are as follows. On 11 December 2004 a collision A occurred on a public road between Vryheid and Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, between a Toyota Landcruiser driven by the appellant in the direction of Dundee and a Nissan double cab driving in the opposite direction towards Vryheid. The impact caused the death of two of the occupants of the Nissan. Other passengers were injured. B

[3] On 18 January 2008 the appellant was convicted in the Vryheid regional court following a plea of guilty on a charge of driving under the influence of liquor in contravention of s 65(1)(a) of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 (count one), and two charges of culpable homicide (counts 2 and 3). On the same day he was sentenced on C count one to six years' imprisonment. On counts two and three, which were taken together for the purpose of sentence, the appellant was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment of which two years were suspended for five years on condition that he was not again convicted of culpable homicide involving a motor collision. The appellant's driver's licence was suspended for a period of two years and he was declared unfit to possess a D firearm licence in terms of s 103(1) of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000. Leave to appeal against sentence was refused by the regional magistrate.

[4] In his plea of guilty in terms of s 112 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 E and his statement setting out the facts upon which the plea was based, the correctness of which was accepted by the State, the appellant admitted that he had caused the collision and the deaths of two deceased, women aged 70 and 57. He said he had consumed several beers until about 01h00 during the night before the collision but said that he had sobered up. At approximately 10h00 the next morning he F had about two brandies before setting out from Vryheid for Dundee. He felt fatigued and believed that he could continue driving. But he nodded off to sleep briefly, lost control of the vehicle, crossed the double barrier line in the middle of the road and collided with the oncoming vehicle. He admitted that alcohol had a part to play in causing the collision. His statement concluded with his offering his deepest sympathy to the family G of the bereaved and praying that God might grant them patience and willingness to forgive him. Equally, he expressed his sincere and utter remorse for his actions.

[5] Anita Groenewald, the daughter of one of the deceased women, H testified for the State on sentence. The two deceased and the child who was seriously injured were all members of the same family that was preparing for a wedding to be held that very day. The witness was summonsed to the scene of the accident where she discovered that the two elder women were dead. The child, Germaine, who had sustained brain injuries, had to be taken by helicopter to hospital in Pietermaritzburg. I In all, some R200 000 was paid to cover the costs of medical services. There were also burial costs of R15 000.

[6] After the accident Germaine, who was six at the time, could not maintain proper posture and fell over when trying to sit upright. She crawled for some time before relearning to walk, had to be potty J

Meer AJA

A trained, fed and was helpless. Although nearly 10 at the time of the trial, she had a mental age of a 6-year-old and had failed...