Latest news with #culpablehomicide
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Ex-Sabah rugby player jailed 12 years for causing sister's death
The court heard that a note written by his sister had 'provoked' Arden Mattson Maturin, leading to an altercation between the two. (Pexels pic) PETALING JAYA : A rugby player who used to represent Sabah has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Kota Kinabalu High Court for causing his sister's death in 2023. This comes after Arden Mattson Maturin, 28, pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, The Borneo Post reported. Arden was initially charged with murder two years ago and was supposed to go on trial today, but the deputy public prosecutor's office had accepted his representations. Today, he was charged with causing the death of his younger sister, Audrey Maturin, 24, at a house in Taman Prestij, off Jalan Signal Hill, on May 4, 2023. The charge under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a fine, upon conviction. Justice Duncan Sikodol ordered Arden's 12-year jail term to begin from the date of his arrest on May 4, 2023. The court heard that Arden and Audrey were at the family home when a note she had written to him purportedly 'provoked' him, leading to an altercation between the two. Arden then assaulted his sister repeatedly and left the house. Audrey was found in a pool of blood in the living room and died in hospital two days later. A post-mortem revealed she had suffered severe traumatic brain injury with haemorrhagic shock and multiple facial fractures. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, neck and chest. Sikodol ruled that the incident occurred in the heat of the moment, driven by rage, and that Arden was young and had expressed remorse over the incident. The judge, however, said the jail sentence was necessary given public interest in the case and to reflect the sanctity of life. 'I am of the view that a sentence of 12 years' imprisonment strikes the necessary balance between punishment and compassion. It reflects the gravity of the act while acknowledging the tragic familial context in which it occurred,' he said when delivering his judgment.
News24
6 days ago
- News24
Woman accused of running girl over with her car at Zulu ceremony gets R5 000 bail
A 68-year-old woman accused of culpable homicide after running a 14-year-old girl over with her car during a traditional coming-of-age ceremony in Germiston, Gauteng, last month has been released on R5 000 bail. Martha van der Walt appeared in the Germiston Magistrate's Court after she handed herself over to police on Friday, accompanied by her lawyer, Kineil Muthray. Muthray told journalists Van der Walt was concerned about public perception and claims that she had deliberately run Pretty Mahlangu over. The lawyer also said it was unnecessary to have a warrant issued for Van der Walt's arrest. But the court heard that the warrant was issued after the initial case against Van der Walt was provisionally withdrawn, pending further investigation. Once investigations were completed, the matter was re-enrolled, resulting in the warrant. According to the Mahlangu family's spokesperson, Mzwandile Soyaya, the girls who were with Mahlangu at the coming-of-age ceremony, held for Nhlanhla Sithebe, 16, told him that, minutes before the incident, Van der Walt stopped her car near to them. 'She asked why [the girls] were partially dressed, with their breasts not covered. The girls replied they were celebrating their Zulu culture,' Soyaya said. Then she ran Mahlangu over. The case returns to court on 20 August.
News24
14-07-2025
- News24
‘Deeply troubling': 12 lives lost on North West roads over tragic weekend
A series of road accidents across the North West between 11 and 13 July claimed 12 lives, with cases of culpable homicide under investigation. Fatal crashes included a head-on collision involving four vehicles on the N4 near Groot Marico, which claimed five lives, and another deadly crash on the N18 near Mahikeng, which killed four. MEC Wessels Morweng emphasised that reckless driving and overtaking were key contributors to the weekend's tragedies. A devastating weekend on North West roads claimed the lives of 12 people between Friday and Sunday. The tragic series of accidents has raised fresh concerns over road safety in the province. The North West community safety and transport department confirmed the fatalities on Monday morning, detailing a string of horrific incidents across the region. MEC Wessels Morweng expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to those injured. Morweng also confirmed that culpable homicide cases are under investigation for each incident. The first tragedy unfolded on Friday on the N14 near Tshing in Ventersdorp, where one person lost their life. Later that evening, a catastrophic head-on collision involving four vehicles on the N4 near Groot Marico claimed five more lives. READ | Four women killed in N4 multi-vehicle crash in Mpumalanga The crash occurred when two delivery vehicles, reportedly from the same company and with one towing the other, overtook illegally across a barrier line. They collided with two oncoming vehicles, and four women and one man were killed at the scene. The injured occupants of the delivery vehicles were transported to a hospital. The death toll rose again on Saturday when a pedestrian died in a hit-and-run outside Potchefstroom on the N12, heading towards Stilfontein. On Sunday evening, another head-on collision occurred between a light sedan and a light delivery vehicle on the N18 near Setlagole. Tragically, all four occupants of the sedan – three men and one woman – died at the scene. The sedan was reportedly overtaking when the collision occurred. READ | Western Cape roads: 23 people killed in a week, 57 arrested for drunk driving In a separate incident near Madiba Makgabana village, a vehicle travelling towards Mafikeng struck a stray cow. Another vehicle, closely following behind, hit the same animal. Three occupants sustained serious injuries, while a child travelling with them died at the scene. 'In total, the weekend's road accidents resulted in 12 confirmed fatalities,' Morweng stated. 'The loss of so many lives in one weekend is deeply troubling,' he said. He added, 'We call on motorists to exercise caution and always obey road rules. Recklessness costs lives.' He has urged all road users to remain alert when travelling on high-traffic national routes.
CNA
11-07-2025
- CNA
Man who killed 5-year-old daughter gets life sentence after appeal against 35-year jail term fails
SINGAPORE: A man who beat his five-year-old daughter to death had his sentence increased to life imprisonment on Friday (Jul 11) after failing in an appeal to reduce his 35-year jail term. The victim, Ayeesha, died of a head injury in 2017 after her father repeatedly smacked her in the toilet where she and her brother were confined. Her death was preceded by almost two years of abuse and neglect, which included her not having enough to eat and being kept naked in the toilet for nearly 10 months. The man, 45, cannot be named to protect the identity of his son. A judge previously allowed Ayeesha to be named "so that society may remember her". The offender had pleaded guilty to six charges: one count of culpable homicide, four counts of child abuse and one count of disposing of evidence. Twenty more charges of child abuse and lying to police officers were considered in sentencing. He originally received a sentence of 34-and-a-half years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane. He was given an additional six months' jail after being found unfit for caning due to a degenerative disc disease and disc compression. On Friday, the man's lawyers, Mr Mervyn Cheong and Ms Lim Yi Zheng of Advocatus Law, appealed for a shorter sentence of 25-and-a-half to 30 years' imprisonment. The prosecution did not appeal for a heavier punishment. However, the Court of Appeal exercised its discretion to increase the man's jail sentence for the culpable homicide charge from 15 years to life imprisonment. The three judges on the bench were Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Steven Chong and Justice Judith Prakash. They heard arguments on whether or not the man's actions placed this among the worst cases of culpable homicide in Singapore. Deputy Public Prosecutors James Chew and Maximilian Chew argued that life imprisonment would not be disproportionate to the man's culpability and the gravity of his offence. They said his offence warranted a sentence at the high end of the sentencing range for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which is punishable with life imprisonment or jail for up to 20 years with a fine and caning. The prosecutors pointed to the prolonged period of abuse and neglect that Ayeesha suffered, and the heinous and unprovoked attack by the man against his biological daughter. They said "the full extent of the cruelty perpetrated against Ayeesha" could only be understood by considering all the offending actions collectively. Starting in 2015, she was not given enough food and resorted to eating her own faeces out of hunger. She was severely undernourished, weighing just 13.2kg when she died. She had been kept in "inhumane conditions" since February 2016. "Seen in this context, the extreme physical, emotional and psychological suffering that the five-year-old girl had to endure in the period leading to, and during the fatal attack, was truly horrific and difficult to imagine," said the prosecutors. Arguing that this was not one of the worst cases of culpable homicide, Mr Cheong and Ms Lim said that the 15-year jail term already took into account all the relevant sentencing factors, and that their client had shown genuine remorse. Ayeesha and her brother were initially in foster care but returned to live with their father and his second wife in early 2015. They did not attend any school from May 2015, and were not seen by any social service case officers from around that time. Their father would often lie to social service officers that the children were staying with his relatives. The man, who was trained in martial arts, physically abused the children. He and his wife started confining them between a bookshelf and a wardrobe in February 2016. In October 2016, they moved the children to the kitchen toilet, only letting them out to be fed or when the couple wanted to use the toilet. On the night of Aug 10, 2017, Ayeesha and her brother were sleeping in the toilet when their stepmother asked them to move their legs as they had not been active the whole day. When Ayeesha did not listen, her stepmother complained to her father, who smacked her face 15 to 20 times before leaving her in the toilet. The next evening, the family realised Ayeesha had died. The man then went about covering his tracks. This included the disposal of a closed-circuit television camera and other evidence. He brought his son and Ayeesha's body to the hospital on the morning of Aug 12, 2017, and the man was arrested that afternoon. Ayeesha's stepmother faces four charges of ill-treating Ayeesha and her brother and two charges of giving false information to a police officer.
BBC News
10-07-2025
- BBC News
Woman accused of killing partner with air rifle 'unfit for trial'
A woman accused of shooting and killing her partner with an air rifle may be unfit to stand trial, a hearing has been Ramage, 40, is alleged to have fired the weapon at Brian Kowbel at a property in Galashiels on 17 February denies the charges against her which include culpable homicide.A preliminary hearing at the High Court in Glasgow was told she was "clearly unfit" to stand trial. As well as the culpable homicide charge, Ms Ramage also denies attempting to pervert the course of justice by hiding the rifle under a sofa and "culpably and recklessly" discharging the weapon towards a defence counsel Mark Stewart KC told the hearing that he was awaiting a written report from a psychologist on Stewart said: "The doctor has provided a verbal report that she is clearly unfit to stand trial as she suffers from PTSD and she will need long-term psychological care and treatment."The doctor expresses a degree of criticism of the lack of treatment she has received from the medical profession in the last two years."He said had it not been for her GP and family looking after her, she would have been sectioned for her own safety as she is a risk of self harm."A further hearing was fixed for September this year by judge Lord Arthurson.A trial had previously been arranged for March next year.
