PMB murders: Court hears crimes fuelled by drugs
Arguments in mitigation and aggravation of sentencing in the Kershwin Goldstone murder case have wrapped up in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
Goldstone was convicted of murdering three elderly retirees at old age homes in the city centre last month.
He said his crimes were fuelled by his addiction to drugs.
Goldstone's advocate argued in mitigation of sentencing that her client was abandoned at the Salvation Army when he was just 3-years-old and shipped off to Boys' Town when he was 15.
Last week, the 22-year-old pleaded guilty to a raft of charges, including murder, housebreaking, theft and aggravated robbery.
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Goldstone confessed to stabbing and strangling three elderly people in their eighties and nineties.He said his crimes were fuelled by his addiction to drugs.
Goldstone's advocate argued in mitigation of sentencing that her client was abandoned at the Salvation Army when he was just 3-years-old and shipped off to Boys' Town when he was 15.
She maintains Goldstone's drug addiction reduces his moral blameworthiness to an extent.
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The State, however, says the murders were some of the worst it had ever seen.