Man who murdered wife, stepdaughter in Hartbeespoort to be sentenced on Monday
The judge found that it was premediated murder and said planning a murder does necessarily take days, it can take minutes.
Paul Prinsloo was found guilty of the premeditated murders of his wife Magdaleen (58) and his stepdaughter Ruzanne Weideman (31) in the Pretoria High Court this week.
Prinsloo shot and killed the women on 27 November 2023 at the family’s home in Kosmos in Hartbeespoort.
On Monday, Judge Mashudu Munzhelele found that Prinsloo planned the women’s murders and did not act on the spur of the moment as he testified.
Prinsloo testified last week that he only wanted to scare them and ‘show them who was boss’.
Munzhelele said the fact that Prinsloo walked to the cupboard where the hunting rifle was and that the rifle was already loaded proved that he acted with premeditation and that he did not act on the spur of the moment.
She said he had time to reflect before he committed the murders.
“Why did he run after Magdaleen to shoot her after he had already murdered her daughter? Premeditated murder does not necessarily refer to a murder planned days or months before. Mere minutes are enough to plan a murder,” Munzhelele said in her ruling.
Prinsloo again appeared in court on Wednesday for pre-sentence proceedings.
Munzhelele postsponed the case to Monday when she will hand down her sentence.
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