MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR STABBING HIS GIRLFRIEND TO DEATH
The High Court of South Africa: Mpumalanga High Court sitting in Delmas has convicted and sentenced Christopher Graham Watson (33), from Secunda to life imprisonment and a further three years for the murder of his girlfriend Angelique Fourie (27). Watson pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder and three years’ imprisonment for assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Through his lawyer, Watson told the court that on the evening of 07 November 2021, he went to the deceased’s place in Cosmo Ridge, Trichardt and found her with another person who is a complainant in the matter. A heated argument ensued between the complainant and the accused, and the accused assaulted the complainant. When the deceased (Fourie) intervened, the complainant ran out of the house and an argument continued between the accused and the deceased. He took a kitchen knife and stabbed the deceased several times. He then set a plastic dustbin on fire, took their 3-year-old minor child, and fled the scene.
The deceased succumbed to the stab wound injuries the same day and her lifeless body was found in the bathroom of her house by the police and firefighters who declared her dead. State Adv. Derrick Rowles handed in a post-mortem report which showed the deceased cause of death was multiple perforations and incised wounds to the neck.
The National Prosecuting Authority welcomes the conviction and sentence. We hope that this sentence will send a strong message that violent crimes will not be tolerated but will be prosecuted.
