A man from the North West has had his appeal dismissed after being sentenced to life imprisonment for fatally stabbing his uncle.
Retshepaone Gladwin Kepi was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and three years for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm by the Taung Regional Court in February this year.
He subsequently lodged a leave to appeal application at the North West High Court in Mahikeng, challenging only his conviction and sentence for the murder charge.
North West man stabs uncle to death
During the trial, Kepi admitted to killing his uncle on 28 January 2024, but pleaded not guilty. In his statement, he recounted the events of that day.
He explained that he had met two friends — Thabang “Tumelo” Motse and Olebogeng Kepi — while on his way back home after buying cigarettes at a nearby spaza shop in Maphoitsile village.
Motse suggested that they go to the uncle’s house to borrow his car for travelling to places of entertainment in Magogong.
Upon arrival, Kepi and Motse went inside the house, while Olebogeng stayed outside.
Kepi said he entered his uncle’s bedroom, where his uncle was preparing to sleep, to ask for the car keys.
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According to Kepi, the uncle asked, “What car?” before “charging” at him.
This prompted the accused, who was in possession of a knife, to stab his uncle four times in the chest and abdomen.
Kepi claimed he never intended to kill the deceased and only stabbed him because Motse allegedly told him to do so.
However, it was established that Kepi had pinned his uncle — who had asked “whose keys?” — to the ground after tripping him and stabbing him.
He also threatened to stab Motse, who fled after questioning why Kepi was carrying out his actions.
It later emerged that Kepi threatened to shoot Motse the following day.
Kepi was convicted and sentenced, but he appealed on the sole basis that the Taung Regional Court “erred” in finding that the murder was planned or premeditated.
North West High Court appeal judgment
In his judgment, Judge Andrew Reddy said he did not believe the regional court had misdirected itself in its ruling.
“The evidence demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant unlawfully and intentionally stabbed the deceased to death.
“The factual matrix when viewed conjunctively with the injuries the deceased sustained demonstrates that the appellant had the direct intention to kill the deceased,” the 8 October judgment reads.
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On the question of whether the murder was planned, Reddy highlighted that the state bore the responsibility to prove premeditation.
He noted that it is not only “of utmost importance to examine the accused’s state of mind at the time of the commission of the offence, but also all the factual evidence surrounding the circumstances leading up to the crime in question”.
Murder premeditated?
In analysing the evidence, the judge agreed with the regional court that the murder was premeditated, noting that Kepi went to his uncle’s house armed with a knife.
“Nothing in the appellant’s actions speaks to the stabbing in the spur of the moment.”
Reddy concluded that the challenge against the conviction must fail, and that he was not persuaded to depart from the minimum prescribed sentence of life imprisonment for murder.
“The appeal against conviction and sentence is dismissed.”
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