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'Maqubela high risk, a danger to society'

AWAITING SENTENCING: Thandi Maqubela talks to Advocate Thomas Taylor at the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town Photo: SHELLEY CHRISTIANS
AWAITING SENTENCING: Thandi Maqubela talks to Advocate Thomas Taylor at the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town Photo: SHELLEY CHRISTIANS

A WESTERN Cape High Court prosecutor has accused a non-governmental organisation of omitting imprisonment as a sentence for convicted killer Thandi Maqubela following the compilation of an assessment report.

In his judgment in November 2013, Judge John Murphy found Maqubela guilty of forging her husband's will and committing fraud by causing potential prejudice to his estate.

Judge Maqubela was suffocated with cling wrap in his Bantry Bay flat in Cape Town on June 5 2009.

During cross-examination yesterday, Arina Smit, a social worker at the SA National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders (Nicro), conceded that she omitted some of the aspects regarding the case in her recommendations for sentencing.

Prior to her testimony last week Monday, Smit interviewed Maqubela, her two daughters and her stepson Duma Maqubela. She then compiled the 50-page report which was handed in on the same day.

State prosecutor Bonnie Currie-Gamwo said: "You have ignored imprisonment as a possible sentence when you compiled your assessment report.

"You also did not interrogate her on an option of a prison sentence."

Smit said: "I would not say the court must be more lenient towards the accused.

"It should consider her experience in prison as she had already spent time in jail."

Currie-Gamwo said, according to Smit, Maqubela had anti-social behaviour and characteristics but Smit had recommended that she should evade prison.

The report suggested the accused should not go to prison because of her high social standing in society.

Currie-Gamwo said: "This is a great concern to me.

"She is also a high-risk offender and a danger to society."

Smit said she believed that a person who contributed to the development of the country's economy was a role model but said she was not suggesting Maqubela should not spend some time in prison.

Smit proposed that Maqubela could be sentenced to a maximum of 83 days in a period of 15 years or five years imprisonment which could later be converted into correctional supervision.

Currie-Gamwo said the report mainly focused on the needs of Maqubela while it lacked the needs of society.

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