Wife killer Rob Packham has filed an application with the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) for leave to appeal his 22-year jail sentence.
“The State is opposing the application,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eri Ntabazalila said on Monday November 25.
The 58-year-old Packham was unsuccessful in his initial SCA bid for leave to appeal his conviction, but according to Mr Ntabazalila, he can file the application “when leave to appeal to the SCA has been refused and he can show exceptional circumstances”.
Earlier this month, a SCA notice stated Packham’s leave to appeal was “dismissed on the grounds that there are no reasonable prospects of success and there is no other compelling reason why an appeal should be heard” which was considered by Justice Halima Salduker and Acting Justice Jannie Eksteen. The State had opposed the application.
On May 20, the Western Cape High Court found Packham guilty of killing his wife Gill and trying to defeat the ends of justice by setting her car and body alight in February 2018.
In his SCA application, Packham argues there was no direct evidence implicating him in the death of his wife. Her body was found at Diep River station in the boot of her torched car.
In court papers, Packham contended that in many instances evidence which was palpably unreliable or in conflict with the authoritative prescripts of the law was accepted and found to be reliable and have probative value in the case presented against him.
He disputed the evidence of Keanon Thomas and State witness Paul Gray, who placed him at the crime scene.
Mr Thomas told Judge Elize Steyn the man who drove away that night looked like someone who was angry. He pointed out Packham in the dock at the motorist he had seen get into a green BMW.
In his court papers, Packham said: “Gray had allegedly identified me on February 22, 2018 and the photo identification parade was held on April 13, 2018 – some seven weeks later.
This constituted an irregularity in the process. Evidence showed that Gray and Thomas were in each other’s company before and after the respective photo identification parades were held. It emerged from the investigating officer in the evidence that Gray and Thomas had been driving together on the day in question. And that they had also discussed the matter.”
He applied for leave to appeal his conviction to the Western Cape Hogh Court in July, but Judge Steyn dismissed it.Â
Courtesy of the Cape Times.   Â