The State has called for a life sentence for convicted wife killer, Rob Packham, describing his actions as cold blooded, callous and selfish.
“The accused simply removed her [his wife, Gill] from his life, as she in all probability no longer fitted in with what he wanted,” Senior State prosecutor Susan Galloway told the Cape High Court yesterday.
Packham had been married to Gill for more than 30 years, but the couple had been having marital problems because of his jolling before her disappearance on 22 February last year.
She did not arrive for work at the usual time of 7.30am and her body was found in the boot of her burnt-out BMW near Diep River Train Station.
Delivering her judgment on 20 May, Judge Elize Steyn rejected Packham’s version that his wife could have been the victim of a random hijacking and instead found that Packham was “a crafty deceiver”.
Defence lawyer, Craig Webster, argued yesterday that Packham should not receive more than a 12-year sentence.
The 58-year-old was not a young man, was a first-time offender, and had posed no threat to society in the past, Webster said.
He argued there was no evidence to suggest the murder had been planned, but rather had the “hallmarks of a spur of the moment incident”.
Steyn, however, pointed out that Packham had not told the court he was remorseful, or that the events of what happened haunted him.
She also felt the prevalence of femicide in South Africa also needed to be addressed.
Sentencing has been set down for Wednesday.