Week-end jail for killing black
NZPA Johannesburg A young Afrikaner has been sentenced to at least 1200 hours of “week-end jail” after beating a black man to death. Ronnie Johannes van der Merwe, aged 19, an electrician in Pretoria’s public transport service, was sentenced last week for what the judge called a “hideous” crime, the “Sunday Express" reports. The court heard that van der Merwe had said during his birthday celebrations last October: “I want to hit a blockhead." Shortly afterward he had stopped his car beside three black men and hit one of them, Japhta Kgopa, aged 23, over the head with a karate flail. He told the court that he had the impression that the blacks were laughing at him. “I wanted to hit him again, but he was already on the ground," he added. Van der Merwe was sentenced to spend 2000 hours on Saturdays and Sundays at Pretoria’s central prison, but the court suspended 800 hours, leaving him one week less than six months of consecutive jail week-ends to face, .i
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Press, 7 June 1983, Page 10
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175Week-end jail for killing black Press, 7 June 1983, Page 10
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