South Africa - sentenced to 5 minutes for murder

Krugersdorp's Ann-Marie Engelbrecht, convicted of killing her husband Jaco, was on Friday sentenced to be detained for five minutes.

In passing sentence, Judge Kathy Satchwell ordered that Engelbrecht be "detained until the rising of the court" for tea.

In a long, detailed sentence explanation, Satchwell said that Engelbrecht served her sentence in advance as "none of us will ever know or comprehend her suffering over the years".

Satchwell pointed out that Engelbrecht's husband had been a control freak with a history of physical and alcohol abuse.

Engelbrecht had not been in control of herself on the day of the murder (June 29, 2002) and, while not being completely responsible for her actions, had in fact "programmed herself" to murder him.

The relatives of the deceased were unhappy and one family member told Sapa reporters that she was "speechless".

Six months after the Engelbrechts' marriage everything turned sour.

Nine years later Ann-Marie Engelbrecht thumb-cuffed her husband's hands behind his back and sat in an adjacent room as the air in the plastic bag she had placed over his head slowly ran out.