Durban - Aldean Wilkinson, who fatally stabbed his pregnant girlfriend in May, has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in the Northern Cape High Court.
The 31-year-old handed himself over to police and pleaded guilty to murdering Danelle van der Linde, who was also the mother of his two other children.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in the Northern Cape, Mojalefa Senokoatsane, said police were called to the the crime scene on May 15 where they found Van der Linde's body.
"She had stab wounds to the upper body. Wilkinson handed himself over to police and was arrested the next day. He applied for bail but it was successfully opposed in June," Senokoatsane said.
He explained that police were concerned that the accused would interfere with the witnesses.
The matter was transferred to the high court in August and Senokoatsane explained that while the prescribed sentence for the crime is 15 years, the court believed that the 20 years of direct imprisonment was in the best interest of justice.
"The court told the accused that it was his responsibility to protect his pregnant girlfriend and the mother of his two children, which he failed to do. That the victim was killed in a place where she was supposed to feel safe, and that the two children will now have to be raised by other family members. During sentencing, the accused was also declared unfit to possess a firearm," Senokoatsane said.
He will commence his sentence immediately.
IOL