The man who is accused of beating his girlfriend to death in Strydenburg on April 6 was out on parole at the time of the incident.
ANTHONY Harris Sampson, 28, who is accused of beating his girlfriend to death in Strydenburg on April 6, abandoned his bail application in the local magistrate’s court on April 13.
Sampson, who was out on parole at the time, allegedly assaulted his girlfriend, Natasha Goeieman, with a bicycle chain and a spade in front of family members.
Goeieman died on the scene.
His next court appearance is scheduled for May 7.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has confirmed that Sampson was serving an 18-month sentence under correctional supervision (parole) at the time of his arrest on suspicion of murder.
DCS spokesperson Sechaba Mphahlele said Sampson was previously sentenced for assault and sexual assault.
Mphahlele said the DCS is mandated by law to manage and maintain a system of parole applicable to sentenced offenders.
“As at March 31, 2022, DCS had 50,836 parolees in the system of community corrections. Since 2017, in terms of compliance by parolees, the percentage of parolees without violations stands at 99%,” he explained.
“Parole is subject to specific conditions which offenders must comply with, failure of which results in the readmission of offenders in correctional centres.”
According to outraged Strydenburg community members, this is the third incident in three years where a woman was brutally murdered by her male partner.
The community has called for an awareness campaign regarding domestic violence.
The chairperson of Youth Against Crime, Jacobus April, said the dates for the campaign are still being decided on.
“We will not leave it here, we feel that domestic violence is an evil that needs to be destroyed,” said April. “But our system is not working well because the people who are sentenced end up doing a little time and are then granted parole.”
