Pretoria – The High Court in Mpumalanga, sitting in Delmas, has convicted and sentenced 33-year-old Christopher “Stoffie” Graham Watson, from Secunda, to life imprisonment and a further three years for the brutal murder of his girlfriend Angelique Fourie, 27.
Watson pleaded guilty to the heinous crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder, according to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Mpumalanga regional spokesperson Monica Nyuswa.
He was also slapped with three years’ imprisonment for assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Nyuswa said in a statement, “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 the complainant in the matter. A heated argument ensued between the complainant and the (accused) Watson, and the accused assaulted the complainant.
“When the deceased (Angelique Fourie) intervened, the complainant ran out of the house and an argument continued between the accused and the deceased.
“He (Watson) took a kitchen knife and stabbed Fourie several times. He then set a plastic dustbin on fire, took their three-year-old minor child, and fled the scene.”
Fourie succumbed to the stabbing injuries on the same day, and her lifeless body was found in the bathroom of her house by the police and firefighters who declared her dead at the scene.
In court, State Advocate Derrick Rowles handed in a post-mortem report which showed Fourie’s cause of death, which was “multiple perforations and incised wounds to the neck”.
The NPA in Mpumalanga has welcomed the conviction and sentencing of Watson.
“We hope that this sentence will send a strong message that violent crimes will not be tolerated but will be prosecuted,” said Nyuswa.
IOL