Man who killed three family members with brick door stop gets 25 years

The Herald

4 days ago

The Parow regional court on Tuesday sentenced Cevyn Kemp to an effective 25-year jail term after he pleaded guilty to using a brick to kill his brother, then his mother and his aunt at his Bishop Lavis, Cape Town, home in 2022.
Kemp pleaded guilty to the three murders which began when he killed his brother Peter after an argument over the deceased's bad school results.
Kemp confessed that on December 14 2022 , he went to his brother's room and confronted him about his bad school results, as he had heard that he had failed his examinations.
After Kemp opened the door, he found his brother smoking drugs, and during their argument, the deceased started assaulting him.
'He picked up a brick, which the household used as a door stop, and started hitting the deceased with it on his head. He died because of the blunt force trauma to his head,' said the National Prosecuting Authority's Eric Ntabazalila.
His mother, Elmoline Kemp, arrived home from work and enquired about the whereabouts of Peter. Cevyn told her that his brother had left the house earlier and she became restless.
'She went to the deceased's room and discovered his body lying on the bed. He claims that he panicked, picked up the brick in the room and started hitting his mother on the head with the same brick.'
Later, his aunt Shireen Isaacs arrived, looking for his mother. He told her that both his mother and brother had left to visit someone in the neighbourhood. The aunt left and returned shortly and told him that she could not find them anywhere.
'She went to search for the two in the house and he claims that after she found the deceased's bodies, he panicked, picked up the same brick and started hitting her with it on her head.'
The day after the murders, the accused visited a friend's house and informed her that something had happened to his family members.
The friend and her father drove with him to his home, and they discovered the bodies in the yard.
Police arrested the accused and charged him with murder.
He then confessed.
However, prosecutor Earl Edward Koopman argued there were inconsistencies in the accused's account of what had happened on the day.
'Koopman asked the court to impose life imprisonment, but the court found that there were substantial and compelling circumstances for it to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence.'
This included that the accused wanted to plead guilty on his first day in court, he had expressed remorse, his age, and his personal circumstances.
The court sentenced him to 25 years' direct imprisonment for each count of murder and ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
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