Sentencing procedures of convicted murderer Rob Packham were postponed in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday to give him time to consult with his defence lawyer.
The Constantia businessman was convicted of killing his wife, Gill, and defeating the ends of justice on Monday.
Judge Elize Steyn described him as an “accomplished liar” who had led a double life and whose version of events was clearly fabricated before finding him guilty.
His wife, with whom he had been having marital problems because of his jolling, disappeared on 22 February last year.
She did not arrive for work at the usual time of 7.30am and her body was later found in the boot of her burnt-out BMW near the Diep River Train Station.
Steyn rejected Packham’s version that she could have been the victim of a random hijacking and instead found that Packham was “a crafty deceiver”. During the trial, Packham claimed he tried to report his wife missing at the Wynberg Police Station, but was told he needed to go to the Diep River Police Station where he would be given a reference number, but he never did.
“I had intended to do it on my way to my sister’s, but for some reason I forgot,” he testified.
Two days after his wife’s disappearance, he allegedly sent his former mistress, Witness X, (she cannot be identified by order of the court), an email saying the madness would soon be over and then they could be together.
Sentencing proceedings will start Wednesday.