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Cited documents 2
Judgment
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Reported
Life sentence for rape of under‑16 held disproportionate; Malgas/Dodo proportionality test requires full case-specific assessment.
Criminal law – Rape where victim under 16 – Mandatory minimums under Criminal Law Amendment Act – Application of Malgas/Dodo determinative test for substantial and compelling circumstances – High Court misdirections (age, medical history) – Conviction upheld on evidence of non-consent and mens rea – Sentencing: life disproportionate; substituted 15 years with pre-trial detention credit.
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Reported
Court upholds life sentence for rape involving grievous bodily harm, substitutes 15 years where statutory requirements for life were unmet.
* Criminal law – sentencing – s 316B appeal – duplication of convictions and punishment – common-sense test to avoid splitting one substantive offence.
* Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 – s 51(1) and Schedule 2 – definition/application of 'grievous bodily harm' in rape cases – life sentence where rape involves grievous bodily harm.
* Schedule 2 Part I(a)(iii) – prescribed life sentence for an offender convicted of two or more rapes but not yet sentenced – inapplicable where convictions had not yet occurred at time of subsequent offence.
* Substantial and compelling circumstances – assessment: aggravating conduct may outweigh personal mitigation, precluding deviation from statutory minima.
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