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offence of trafficking for sexual purposes as a particularly heinous crime,
punishable by the most severe sentence of imprisonment which a court can
impose.
[102] Again, the trial court’s approach to sentencing the appellant and the sentences
which it imposed cannot be faulted. It correctly pointed out the failure by the
state to reflect the minimum sentence of life imprisonment for trafficking for
sexual purposes in the charge sheet. It thus correctly found that in the
interests of justice the court’s ordinary penal jurisdiction would have to prevail.
[103] The trial court carefully weighed the well-known triad of the nature of the
offences, the appellant’s personal circumstances, and the interests of society.
It paid due regard to the probation officer and victim impact reports. Their
contents form part of the record and will thus not be repeated herein. The trial
court accepted that the appellant’s moral blameworthiness was mitigated by
the belief which he held concerning traditional practices, and accepted that in
his own mind the appellant had not foreseen the catastrophic consequences
to the complainant when he set in motion the course of events. We wish to
emphasise however that in our view, any diminishing of the appellant’s moral
blameworthiness must be clearly distinguished from the notion or perception
that any aberrant form of custom or traditional practice can of itself constitute a
substantial and compelling circumstance. This could never have been
contemplated by the legislature, as it would fall foul of our Constitution, and
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