A George man in the Western Cape has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in the George Regional Court for the brutal murder of his girlfriend.
Jeremy Siko, 24, pleaded guilty to murdering his 22-year-old Yolandie Boesak, on February 4, 2023.
In his admission statement, Siko confessed to killing Boesak by way of assault and blamed the deceased and alcohol for the murder.
The court heard Siko stated the problems in their relationship started when Boesak started visiting her ex-boyfriend.
He claims on the night of the murder, he drank strong alcohol at a tavern before going home.
When he did not find Boesak at home, he looked for her and found her at a game shop in the presence of her ex-boyfriend. He demanded she come home with him, but she refused, stating she wanted to finish drinking.
On the way home, he assaulted her, he slapped her about three times, and each time her head hit the tarmac.
In the yard of their home in Borchards, George, pushed her against the gate and she fell. The court further heard how he kicked her against her head and assaulted her numerous times with a piece of wood against her head, back, arms, and legs inside the house.
Her sister arrived, went outside, and upon her return, Boesak had died. Emergency services and police were immediately called. Siko was arrested. He claims he had no intentions of killing his girlfriend but admitted his actions caused her death.
State prosecutor Samantha Hendricks strongly argued for the court to impose a life sentence.
Among the witnesses called, the forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem told the court Boesak had multiple blunt force injuries to the head, the trunk, and the limbs of the deceased.
The hospital linen sheet in the body bag was stained with blood and her upper clothing was stained with blood. She noted a total of 33 external injuries to the body of the deceased. These ranged from open lacerations, multiple abrasions, contusions, and elongated friction abrasions. The post-mortem photos show the gravity and severity of the injuries that she suffered.
The accused’s sister, Shanick Siko, told police that the accused had assaulted the Boesak in the past, including an incident where he slapped her into a wall. Boesak, who was small in stature, never fought back when the accused assaulted her.
Another witness told the court Boesak did not want to leave with Siko, she was crying and when they tried to stop him, he set his dogs on them for intervening. The court also heard Siko told Boesak everything that was going to happen was because of her.
Hendricks argued that the accused killed his intimate life partner with whom he was reported to have been living with for quite some time. She said the spate of violent crimes such as the one he was convicted of was ever-increasing.
“There is not an area on her body that is not injured. The accused assaulted her from head to toe. Photographs of the postmortem report show multiple defensive wounds that she has on her hands. It speaks of the many blows that she tried to block but was unable to. He overkilled Yolandie. His intentions are made clear through the number of injuries that she sustained. He wanted her to die. The courts can help to root out this evil by imposing sentences that match the seriousness of these offences,” Hendricks submitted.
She submitted that the prescribed minimum sentence [of life imprisonment] was the only suitable sentence under the circumstances. The court diverted from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment under Part I of Schedule 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 as the accused was 24 years old, a first offender, a father of a minor child, and had spent a year in prison.