Drinking and driving - What a laugh...

[Mojoman]

Cant believe this is all the bonehead got:

 

Cape Town - The man who negligently caused the death of 73-year-old Joan Fulford during a horror crash on Hospital Bend nearly three years ago has been sentenced to house arrest and fined R30 000 for drunk driving.

...

Bhekilanga Nkalitshana, 39, a plant maintenance engineer at PetroSA in Mossel Bay, was sentenced in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

 

In delivering sentence, Magistrate Aziz Hamied said he considered a term of imprisonment as a possible sentence, but instead found that a wholly suspended sentence and correctional supervision was appropriate for the September 16, 2010 crash.

 

Nkalitshana, who was travelling at a speed of about 150km/hr, had been drinking before his 3-series BMW collided with Fulford’s vehicle.

 

Fulford, from Edinburgh in the UK, was in her country of birth to attend her brother’s funeral.

 

On the day of the crash, Fulford and two friends, Maureen Archer and Peggy Delport were on their way to the theatre in the CBD when the collision occurred.

 

The impact was so powerful that the vehicle was flung across two lanes into a barrier and caught alight.

 

Footage of the collision has been used by the Western Cape government in road safety campaigns.

 

Hamied said on Thursday that culpable homicide was “always a very serious crime”, and sentenced Nkalitshana to two years direct imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on condition he was not convicted of culpable homicide again between now and 2018.

 

A three-year correctional supervision sentence was imposed.

 

This means Nkalitshana will be under house arrest at his Mossel Bay home for the next three years, may not leave his house unless he goes to work or church, and has to do 200 hours of community service.

 

Nkalitshana was ordered to complete treatment and development programmes, subject himself to monitoring at work and home, visits from a correctional officer, and refrain from using alcohol or drugs.

 

For driving under the influence, Hamied fined Nkalitshana R60 000, or 36 months in jail, half of which was suspended for five years.

 

His driver’s licence was also suspended for one year. The law allows for suspension of up to five years.

 

Hamied said although the punishment should fit the offender and the crime, the objectives of sentencing was deterrence, prevention, reformation and retribution.

 

“You robbed them of a matriarch in their house, a grandmother and a vibrant lady in their lives. Their loss can never be replaced,” he said.

 

Hamied said removing Nkalitshana from society would have a “dreadful effect” on his pregnant wife and four children, who were dependent on him financially.

 

After court Delport - who had been driving the vehicle that day - said Nkalitshana committed “an act of great violence” as more people could have been killed.

 

She said the sentence gave her a sense of closure but the most disturbing aspect was that Nkalitshana would be driving again within a year.

 

Delport said she was grateful to the brave people who helped her and her friends that day.

[slayer 83]

Unbelievable..

[Butterbean]

That's disgusting. Lifetime ban should be order of the day. And most definitely prison time. This is why people aren't scared to break the law... Not even proper punishment when you get caught! Wtf?

[nickc]

No wonder no one worries about being caught over the limit !! :cursing:

[Mojoman]

Ja, sentencing here is a complete joke. Drunk and driving at 150km/h+?

Should have been an immediate 5-7 years in prison.

[Guest Frail4Life]

What a waste of that poor persons life, family and friends.

South African justice and goverment disgust me.

[slowpoke]

Utterly disgusting. And yet a person who steals a loaf of bread to feed their kids gets a couple of years in prison. "Justice" in this country is a bigger f-up than the education is!

[SomeBloke]

It's not like it was ever taken seriously.

 

Geez, remember the musician Chas from the band Plush? Killed by a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road. She got off despite testing over the limit because she claimed she was so shocked by killing him that she had to drink a few glasses of wine to calm down.

 

My brother-in-law, killed by a drunk driver who smashed into the back of them at 120kph while they were stopped at a red light. Left his girlfriend paralyzed. Driver wasn't even prosecuted.

 

Robert McBride? Nkola Motata? Slapped on the wrist with fines. I think I've lost about four friends to drunk drivers over the last decade and not one of the killers has done any time.

[Bateleur1]

Always so ironic when convicted criminals stand in court and asked not to be sent to prison as they have children and mouths to feed but they did not consider that when they committed the crimes. HTFU.

[JJDT]

Even a prison sentence is a joke. These guys do have a royal time in prison...DSTV etc.

They should re-open Robben Eiland as a prison again. Hard Labour for these guys only way they might learn.

Another option is build a prison somewhere in the Kalahari where it is Hot in summer en ice cold in winter. No aircon no heaters just enough blankets to keep them warm in the winter and some work in the desert to keep them occupied.

[Eldron]

Me - I'm going to buck the trend and say that community service is the right way to go.

 

Sending someone to prison is a double whammy:

1) They stop paying income tax so we lose their share of contributions to the country.

2) We have to pay for their food, clothes, warders, rooms etc.

 

It makes it worse for everyboby.

 

If I were a judge I'd burn his licence and give him 31 hours/week of cumminity service. He gets to do his job + 3 hours/night comm service Mon to Fri and 8 each on Sat and Sun.

 

He can ride a bicycle to work and back. Bonus!

[Sarge]

Jip JJDT,

I think the chain gangs etc are the way to go. Prison time must be so bad that the "bad guys" must be too scared of getting caught and doing time.

Sarge