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Cape Town – The rejection of a 25-year plea and sentencing agreement for the murder of Stellenbosch student Robyn Pearce has been described by her family as a "small victory".
Acting Judge Mark Sher on Monday in the Western Cape High Court did not accept the agreement between the State and Wasief Buxbey, postponing the matter to March 1.
A different judge will now preside over the matter, which could possibly go to trial.
Pearce was found dead in her mother's flat on the fourth floor of an apartment building in Sea Point on December 2, 2016. She had been stabbed in the stomach, and some items were missing from the apartment.
All the stolen items were recovered when police, together with the City of Cape Town's special investigation unit, arrested Buxbey at his home in Ottery on December 14.
Buxbey was a construction worker at the apartment building in Sea Point at the time of the murder.
Robyn's aunt Bronwyn Pearce said the family would like to see Buxbey handed the maximum sentence of life behind bars.
"It's a good indication that the judge didn't accept the 25 years. There is obviously something he sees within the case and facts that were presented to him. We have hope that this will carry through to the next judge who hears the case," she said.
"It bodes well perhaps for a harsher sentence next time around."
