Six years after choking his victim to death, a convicted double murderer and kidnapper is still delaying his sentencing.
|||Six years after choking and bludgeoning Concelia Mare to death before setting a Pretoria Hotel room she was killed in on fire, Clinton Kramer has again delayed court proceedings – this time his sentencing.
Johannesburg High Court Judge Mathilda Masipa was supposed to have started sentencing procedures on Monday, but Kramer requested a postponement, arguing that he needed a complete record of the trial before sentencing procedures could start.
Having conducted his own defence during the trial, Kramer decided to appoint Advocate Robin Stransham-Ford to represent him during sentencing procedures. This after his conviction for murders of Mare and Losire Tillia Ramotswiri in March last year.
But following four postponements to allow him to access the trial record last year, Advocate Stransham-Ford again requested a postponement on Monday saying he has been given an incomplete record.
“Mr Kramer’s instructions are that he is entitled to a complete record. I’ve never been in a situation where the accused is unrepresented and not given a complete record,” said Stransham-Ford, adding that huge chunks of evidence were missing from the record he has been given.
The State opposed the postponement and Judge Masipa was expected to rule on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 if she was granting the postponement.
Kramer’s lover Bernadee Cilliers is already serving a 13-year jail term for Mare and Ramotswiri’s murders, as well as on charges of kidnapping Cilliers, aggravated robbery and arson – the same crimes Kramer has been found guilty of.
When testifying in court last year, Cilliers said Kramer had manipulated her into persuading her friend to drive with her from her home in Krugersdorp to Pretoria on the day of the murder.
Mare had registered her Mercedes-Benz SLK, two motorbikes and a trailer in Cilliers’s name to avoid possible attachment after her husband had allegedly defrauded a company he worked for. This, said Cilliers, was what had motivated Kramer to “manipulate her” into driving Cilliers to Pretoria under false pretences. He wanted the possessions for himself.
On arrival in room 206 of the Pretoria Hotel, Mare was punched, choked and bludgeoned to death. Kramer then set the hotel room on fire in a bid to conceal evidence and that also led to Ramotswiri’s death as she had been sleeping in the next room.
The Star