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Give me 20 years instead of 40, acid killer appeals

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MBABANE-A father who was found guilty of forcing his children to drink battery acid and later setting them on fire wants his 40 year sentence reduced to 20 years.

Gerald Mvemve Valthof was found guilty on two counts of murder in that, on December 25, 2004, at Mathendele in Nhlangano, he forced his two children to drink battery acid after taking them from their mother to his own house. He then placed the children (aged two and six) on his bed, locked the door, doused the house with petrol and set it alight . The incident took place at around 9pm.

After setting the house on fire, he then left to go to the nearest bottle store to have a few drinks with his friends. From the bar, he went to his girlfriend’s house, from where he had taken the children. He tried to set the house on fire but did not succeed and the mother of his children was able to escape.

He was sentenced to 20 years for the first count of murder and another 20 for the second count. The sentences were to run consecutively which means he was to spend 40 years in jail. For attempted murder, he was sentenced to 10 years, which was to run concurrently with the 40 years.

He appeared before the Supreme Court, where he argued that the maximum 40 years which he has to spend in jail was too harsh and too excessive. He appealed before the judges to have his sentence reduced to 20 years. He argued that the offence of murder should have been treated as one count for the purpose of sentence.

Valthof said he did not commit the offence because at the time the incident took place, he was at a bottle store having drinks with friends. He argued that he was forced into making a confession by the police who severely beat him.

He also argued that even if the evidence showed that he committed the offences, there was no evidence that he committed the offences with an intention.

He argued that the evidence that he set the house on fire, killing his children was not supported with facts.

He went on to state that there was no evidence that was submitted in court that he forced his children to consume the battery acid.

When he appeared before the court, Valthof was represented by lawyer Bongani Dlamini who, after a misunderstanding with his client, withdrew from the appeal leaving Valthof to argue on his own before the judges.

In response, prosecutor, Phumlani Dlamini submitted that "... the sentence meted out by the court a quo is one that is not startlingly inappropriate to warrant this court to interfere with it... there were no extenuating circumstances found by the court a quo.

"Lastly, the accused benefitted from the ordering of the 10 year sentence to run concurrently with the other sentences and that the sentences were backdated to the date of his arrest, being six years earlier."

The crown wants the court not to dismiss the appeal. Judgement was reserved for November 30, 2010.

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