The Pretoria High Court on Friday sentenced Pretoria North panel beater Pieter Viljoen to 22 years imprisonment for slitting the throat of his pregnant wife, reported the SABC.

Amelia Viljoen, who was five months pregnant at the time with the couple's first born, was killed in April 2001 while sleeping in their home. Her throat was slit from ear to ear, severing her jugular vein.

On Friday, in passing sentence Judge Mahomed Ismail said Viljoen killed his wife in a very brutal manner. He said Viljoen's apparent lack of remorse and denial showed he had no respect for the law.

Viljoen's legal team was granted leave to appeal, reported the SABC. Viljoen's bail was extended and he was required to remain in Pretoria and report to a police station daily.

A gardener was at first arrested for Amelia's murder. When he appeared to be innocent, Viljoen was arrested a few months later. He confessed to the killing and told the police how he had left his home in the early hours of 10 April 2001 to go to work.

Before he left he took his utility knife out of his toolbox, drove about 500 metres down the road and returned home on foot.

He entered the house through a window and slit his sleeping wife's throat before leaving for work again. At the time Viljoen told police he had no idea why he had killed her. He also pleaded guilty before a Pretoria North magistrate shortly after the killing.

When his trial came before the high court, Viljoen changed his story and pleaded not guilty. He claimed he was tortured by the police into confessing to something he did not do.

Judge Essop Patel (who had meanwhile died) agreed that Viljoen's constitutional rights were violated. He was acquitted on a technicality.

The state however took the matter on appeal and the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein ordered that the trial had to start afresh before another judge.

The appeal court found that a trial-within-a-trial was needed to established whether Viljoen had made his confession under duress.

Following a lengthy trial-within-a-trial, the confession was found to be admissible.

Viljoen was convicted earlier this year. He has continued to deny having anything to do with the killing.

Sapa