Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
The mother of a young woman who was stabbed to death by her convicted killer boyfriend while on parole has said she now believes murderers cannot be rehabilitated.
Charles Barker killed a man who owed him money in 2005, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
During the appeal hearing in 2006, his sentence was increased to 20 years, but he was released on parole after serving half his sentence in June 2015. His parole period would have continued until March 2025.
Barker then met his new neighbour Bettina-Ann Coke and the couple started a relationship three months later.
The couple became engaged eight months down the line and they moved into a home together in the town of Benoni in the South African province of Gauteng.
Coke said: “I lived with him for two and a half years before he attacked us. During the time we stayed together, he never physically abused me, in fact, he looked after us.”
However, Barker would go on to attack her and fatally stab her only daughter Adrianne on 5th March 2018.
Coke explained that she never thought Barker could reoffend and that was the reason they lived together and became engaged.
She said the department of correctional services listed Barker as “low risk” and she even went with him on monthly visits to see his parole officer.
Coke said: “I thought he was rehabilitated, but one morning he snapped and attacked us.”
Explaining the attack, the mother said Barker was getting ready to start a new job when he was “ironing his pants and suddenly tore them” and a row ensued.
Coke said he started packing his bags to leave the house when they then argued over a towel.
She added: “The next minute, he had his belt around my neck. I asked him to stop. He followed me to the bathroom. My daughter followed us to the bathroom. He said this was not her fight.”
The convicted killer then forced both of them into the bathroom and stabbed them four times each.
Coke, who survived the stabbing, said that her daughter would have celebrated her 25th birthday earlier this month had she not died that day.
She added: “I now believe that once you kill, you cannot be rehabilitated.”
Pretoria high court judge Herman Broodryk sentenced Barker to life for the murder of Adrianne and 18 years for the attempted murder of Coke, adding that he had never rehabilitated and realistically never would.