Johannesburg - House arrest is the most appropriate sentence for the murderer of a Diepsloot Catholic priest, a prisons officer told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday.
Ayatolla Matseke said imprisonment could impact negatively on self-confessed killer Nelson Kabelo Malope, 20.
In July, Malope admitted he murdered Father Louis Blondel, 70, in 2009 and robbed him and fellow priest Guido Bourgeois of a computer.
He said he and a group of four friends decided to rob Father Blondel because they had an "order" for a computer and wanted money for drugs and alcohol.
Matseke said house arrest was a "severe" sentence that would allow the unemployed Malope to maintain his relationships with his family and take full responsibility for his actions in future.
He said that according to Malope, he shot his victim because he became frightened on seeing a man standing in a dark room while he and his friends were ransacking the house.
Malope told him he regretted his actions and was ashamed and remorseful about what he had done.
Malope was still at school and lived with his parents at the time of the murder. Malope’s father testified in July that his son disappeared a few days before the crime.
Matseke said most offenders who were sentenced to correctional supervision adhered to the conditions imposed by the court. He said the amount of monitoring depended on the seriousness of the crime.
A former colleague of Father Blondel, Father Sean O’Leary, testified during the trial the church wanted to see justice done first, before it could consider forgiving Malope.
