Carbon monoxide poisoning leads to 10-year sentence for guesthouse owner

THE owner of a guesthouse, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of two guests who died from carbon monoxide poisoning, highlighting the dangers of inadequate safety measures.

Kevin Pretorius, the Kareedouw guesthouse owner learnt his fate in the Humansdorp Magistrate’s Court on Friday, almost six years after Mari Hoon, 28, and her 25-year-old fiancé, Jean Vosloo, were found dead in the shower. 

The couple died in April 2020 while staying at Pretorius’ guesthouse. They were found naked and unresponsive in the bathroom.

Toxicology reports confirmed that they died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

During the trial, the court heard that a gas geyser installed in the bathroom did not have a flue pipe to channel poisonous gases outside, allowing carbon monoxide to build up inside the room.

Magistrate Vusiwe Mnyani sentenced Pretorius to 10 years on each count of murder. Both sentences would run concurrently resulting in an effective 10 year jail term. 

Mnyani said there was no clear indication that he had shown genuine remorse.

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