Update
GEORGE NEWS - A year after the 26-year-old Sharoline Daters was fatally stabbed, her grieving father is left to live with a loss no sentence can undo and a court decision that means the woman convicted of the death of his only child will not go to prison.
"I am not completely happy with the sentence, but I accept it. What can we do?" said Jacob Daters (66) from Conville after Michaela Samantha Smith (24) was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, plus three years of correctional supervision.
Sharoline was fatally stabbed in March 2025.
"If you have taken someone's life, you should go to prison. She was my only daughter, and now she is gone. Now I am completely alone. I miss her all the time. She looked after me so well," he said. His wife had also died several years earlier.
Smith pleaded guilty to culpable homicide on 25 June this year and was convicted of the offence. She was sentenced in the Thembalethu Regional Court on Tuesday 11 August. She received five years' imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, as well as three years of correctional supervision.
This means she will not serve the sentence behind bars unless she breaches the conditions of the sentence or is convicted of a specified further offence during that period.
In a letter addressed to Sharolene's family and read into the court record, Smith expressed her deep remorse for the pain and suffering the family had endured. She said she wished she could turn back time, asked the family for forgiveness, and hoped they would eventually find peace and healing.
She ended the letter by expressing her "deepest sympathy and sorrow" to each member of the family and quoting Psalm 34:19 about the Lord being close to the broken-hearted.
No prison time
Sharoline died in hospital after sustaining a stab wound to the chest during an altercation with Smith in Protea Park in the early hours of 9 March 2025. Smith was initially arrested on a murder charge following the incident and was later released on bail.
She ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
According to the information reported at the time, Smith was the former girlfriend of Sharoline's cousin, with whom she has two children.
Sharoline was reportedly with her cousin when an argument broke out between her cousin and Smith over the children. Sharoline was stabbed in the process.
As part of her sentence, Smith must perform community service and attend rehabilitation programmes covering life skills, anger management, decision-making and personal responsibility. She must also participate in an alcohol and drug programme.
The court made provision for mediation between Smith and the Daters family as part of the rehabilitation process.
Smith may not leave the George district without permission from her correctional officer and may not abuse alcohol or drugs, commit further offences or visit places such as bars and taverns where alcohol or drugs are sold. She was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
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