Sandra Smith was born around 1965 in apartheid-era South Africa. Not much is publicly recorded about her early childhood, family background, or personal upbringing. As a young woman in a racially segregated and economically divided country, she grew up in a time of immense political tension and social instability. The challenges faced by many South Africans during this era, particularly those from marginalized communities, were often tied to poverty, limited opportunities, and the lasting impacts of institutionalized inequality.

By her early 20s, Sandra had become involved with a man named Yassiem Harris. Their relationship would eventually turn deadly, tied together by a crime that shocked the public. There is limited biographical information available about Sandra’s education, employment, or psychological state before the murder.

In 1986, Sandra Smith and her boyfriend Yassiem Harris were involved in a robbery that resulted in the death of 16-year-old Jermaine Abrahams. Specific details of the crime, including the location and sequence of events, were not widely published, but reports confirm that Abrahams was killed during the course of the robbery. The case drew significant attention not only for the nature of the crime but also because both Smith and Harris were sentenced to death for their roles.

The legal proceedings concluded swiftly. That same year, in 1986, Sandra Smith was convicted and condemned to death by hanging. Despite mounting international and domestic criticism of South Africa's use of the death penalty, the executions of Smith and Harris were scheduled. On 2 June 1989, Sandra Smith was hanged, becoming the last known woman to be executed in South African history.

Later that same year, in November 1989, South African President F.W. de Klerk imposed a national moratorium on executions. Although this action came months too late for Smith, it signaled a pivotal shift in the nation’s criminal justice system. The moratorium remained in place until 1995, when the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled in S v Makwanyane that the death penalty was unconstitutional under the new interim constitution of 1993. This landmark decision formally abolished capital punishment in the country.

Sandra Smith’s execution, therefore, represents not only a tragic crime and its consequences but also a turning point in South African legal history. Her death marked the end of an era — one in which capital punishment, especially for marginalized groups, had been a fixture of the apartheid state’s penal system.