The Bulletin News

Christopher Watson was sentenced to Life Imprisonment today for the brutal murder of Jaqueline Fourie

Nearly a year later justice was served on Christopher Watson for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Jaqueline Angelique Fourie. Angie, as she was fondly known, was found in a pool of blood in her bathroom at her house in Terra Nova, Trichardt. Her fragile body was broken and beaten. She was stabbed multiple times.

The murder grabbed the attention of everybody.

Watson was sentenced to life imprisonment on the first charge and three years on the second.

Watson sat in court clutching a Bible with his head bowed down most of the time. He also has a new tattoo with the words RIP Angie and a coffin on his forearm.

Watson was convicted on two counts namely murder (1^st) and assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm on the 1^st of November 2022. Watson pleaded guilty and the state accepted the guilty plea. His sentencing was today.

During her judgement, Delmas High Court Judge Johanna Mthimunye said that Angie was stabbed multiple times, with the cause of death the multiple wounds to her neck. This was charge one. On charge two Watson was charged with assaulting a neighbour without provocation or justification.

Judge Mthimunye said that she postponed the sentencing until today to consider the appropriate sentence as well as to scrutinise the coroner’s report as the accused (Watson) indicated that Angie was stabbed 8 times while the state said that she was stabbed 13 times.

In considering the sentence the court must consider the gravity of the offence, the interest of society and the personal circumstances of the offender, not forgetting the interest of the victim.

Watson’s personal circumstances:

• Watson is 37 years of age, according to the defence’s lawyer Adv Pienaar, and is the father of a 4-year-old child that is now staying with her grandparents.
• Watson is unemployed.
• He handed himself to the police and made three confessions upon his arrest. He was remorseful and willing to accept his sentencing.
• He was in custody for a year, waiting for the outcome of the case.

The offenders’ personal circumstances must not be seen in isolation but weighed against the aggravating circumstances of the offence.

Also read: Ex-Boyfriend disappeared after body is found

In serious offences, the personal circumstances of the offender recede into the background.

The Judge said that it is without a doubt that the accused committed serious offences. He showed little regard for life, human dignity, freedom and security of others in the rule of law.

These rights are protected in our constitution. Gender-Based Violence has reached alarming proportions in this country. The president has stated that GBV is now regarded as the second pandemic in our country.

Not a single day goes by without us learning about violent rapes, maiming and murders of women and children. The gravity of these offences is one of the factors that must be considered. More serious offences ask for stronger deterrents.

It is in the interest of society that courts must punish offenders appropriately. This court has a duty to pass an appropriate sentence that reflects the moral outreach of all law-abiding members of our society.

According to the coroner’s report, there were 13 incise wounds. 8 on the left side of Angie’s neck that ranged from about 1,5 cm to 7 cm. # wounds were on the left upper arm ranging from small to 2,5x5cm in size. There was also one on her left back and one wound on the lower leg.

There were scratches and abrasions on the palms of the deceased. The pathologists regarded these as defensive wounds.

Our courts have a duty to send a clear and bold message that there is no room in our society for offenders that commit violent crimes with little or no regard for the sanctity of life, privacy and the rule of law.

The court found the following aggravating matters:

• The accused had no regard for the life, human dignity, freedom and security of the victim.
• The accused has two previous convictions involving violence, convictions of assault.
• The violence that was perpetrated in the commissioning of these crimes on a defenceless woman has reached alarming proportions in our country.
• The accused and the victim’s child witnessed the violence and the killing of the mother, this was not disputed by the defence that the child was in the house when the mother was killed.
• The fact that the accused robbed the child of a mother’s love. It can never be replaced by anything.
• The fact that the accused did not indicate his reasons, for killing the victim, to the court.
• The deceased died the most painful death at the hand of her lover.

Judge Johanna Mthimunye then explained that the court must sentence the accused as prescribed unless extenuating circumstances can be found, and the court would be justified in imposing a lesser sentence.

The defence argued that in finding extenuating circumstances the following is applicable:

• The accused lost everything.
• He will never see his child again.
• He has shown remorse, he immediately confessed and did so voluntarily.
• Liquor and drugs played a part. He was under the influence of liquor when he committed the offences.

The state argued that there were no extenuating circumstances:

• The violence was exceptionally shocking in nature. Photographs show extreme violence on the deceased.
• The deceased suffered 13 stab wounds as well as multiple scratch wounds and abrasions on her hands indicating defensive wounds.
• An aggravating factor is that the daughter was present during the incident and probably saw what her father did to her mother
• This daughter will grow up without her mother.
• The loss of their daughter will forever have a negative effect on the family of the deceased.
• The deceased was murdered in her own home.
• The accused actions were fuelled by jealousy

The state requested life imprisonment!

Judge Johanna Mthimunye did not believe that Watson was remorseful as he did not take the court into his confidence and explained the reasons for the murder.

He only stated in his plea statement that there was an argument. The judge questioned the validity of this statement by saying, “does an argument allow someone to kill another like an animal?” Watson also did not say what they were arguing about.

The judge then found that there were no extenuating circumstances that warranted the court to deviate from the prescribed sentences.

The deceased was killed in an inhuman and very barbaric manner. “13 stab wounds, 8 of which were the cause of her death, that were incised on her neck. Chopped like an animal!”

“As the accused were stabbing the deceased, I imagine that blood was coming out, he could see that he was injuring her but he did not stop,” said the Judge Johanna Mthimunye, “he kept on going on and on and on, even when the deceased was retreating from where she was to the bathroom he followed her and kept on stabbing her. Showing his clear intention that he did not want the deceased to live in any manner.”

“In the circumstances, I order as follows,” said Judge Mthimunye, “On the count of murder, the accused is sentenced to life imprisonment. On the charge of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, the accused is sentenced to three years imprisonment.”

The three years will run concurrently with the life sentence. Watson was also declared unfit to own any firearms.