A man from Beaufort West in the Western Cape has been sentenced for the murder of his girlfriend in the Beaufort West Regional Court.
Ricardo Jacobs, 39, stabbed his 26-year-old girlfriend, Samantha May, 42 times on July 6, 2019, in their home on Safraan Avenue.
May was stabbed in front of her son, who was six years old at the time.
After the murder, Jacobs fled the scene but was arrested the next day. The court heard he told police that two Cape Town gang members killed his girlfriend and that they wanted to kill him too.
Jacobs refused to take police to the house, he was then taken to the police station where he was detained for being in possession of a sheep shear.
At the time, there was no evidence linking Jacobs to Mays murder. He was also taken to the hospital after he spoke incoherently, however, he was kept under police guard. The day after he was admitted to hospital police found out he was indeed Mays killer and he was arrested and charged with murder.
During the trial, Jacobs defence requested he be referred for mental observation and once the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the trial was delayed. Once the trial resumed, the traumatised witness, Mays son, feared seeing Jacobs again. However, with reassurance from the Court Preparation Officer (CPO), the boy felt he was safe and ready to speak.
State Prosecuror, Hyron Goulding said Jacobs was initially to plead guilty, but, he played cat and mouse until the start of the trial and continued to blame the nonexistent gangsters from Cape Town. Goulding called 15 witnesses, including Jacobs two brothers serving time for separate maters.
On May 7, he was found guilty of murder.
Jacobs was sentenced to 20 years direct imprisonment.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Advocate Nicolette Bell, expressed shock at the callous killing of the deceased particularly in front of her minor child.
Bell appealed to gender-based violence (GBV) victims to seek help before it was too late as it came out during the trial that Jacobs physically abused May, but she never opened cases against him.
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