DJ Donald Sebolai's sentencing postponed by a week

11 February 2016 - 16:06 By Roxanne Henderson

The voices of community members and the family of radio personality Donald Sebolai's deceased girlfriend erupted in protest when his sentencing proceedings were again postponed. Proceedings were postponed on Thursday at the Johannesburg High Court‚ sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court southeast of Johannesburg‚ after both the defence and the state asked for more time to prepare their arguments in aggravation and mitigation of sentence.Sebolai‚ 38‚ was convicted in October of murdering his girlfriend Rachel "Dolly" Tshabalala‚ 32. Sebolai stabbed Tshabalala in her lower abdomen after the couple fought at his Soweto flat and did not get her the medical attention she needed. She bled to death.Sentencing proceedings were initially scheduled for November but postponed at the time because the defence was not ready to proceed.Tshabalala's family and community members called Sebolai a liar and expressed their frustration with the postponement.Siphumelele Mbatha‚ a probation officer of the Department of Social Development in Johannesburg‚ testified earlier on Thursday.Mbatha told the court that Sebolai had a normal childhood. She said that he had good relationships with his children and that the mothers of two of his three children say he was not violent towards them.Mbatha could not track down the mother of Sebolai's third child for consultation. The woman lives in Mafikeng.Sebolai was last year also convicted of one count of attempting to defeat the ends of justice for tampering with the crime scene by cleaning up Tshabalala's blood from the floor and disposing of bloodied clothing. He was acquitted of a motor vehicle theft charge.The case was postponed to February 18.TMG Digtal/TMG Courts and Law..

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