JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- In a case that shocked South Africa for its brutality, a white farmer was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the murder of one of his black workers, who was attacked with machetes, tied up and thrown into a lion enclosure, where he was devoured.

The trial brought impassioned protests from demonstrators who saw the killing as another racial attack in a country still grappling with its apartheid past.

Many in the courtroom in the northern town of Phalaborwa whistled and cheered in approval when Mark Scott-Crossley, 37, was led out after the sentencing.

Human-rights advocates said the killing also highlighted the plight of farm workers in a nation with a history of racial hatred and mistrust.

Judge George Maluleke sentenced Scott-Crossley to the maximum of life in prison for the killing. Scott-Crossley's employee and co-defendant, Simon Mathebula, was sentenced to 15 years because the judge found he had been coerced by his employer. The pair were convicted in April.

'Extreme punishment'

The judge said life sentences should only be imposed to protect society from a repeat of the crime or when the offense is so monstrous it demands harsh punishment.

''No crime fits this description more than the one before me, and there is no doubt it would warrant this extreme punishment,'' the judge said.

Nelson Chisale, 41, had been fired two months before his January 2004 murder for allegedly running a personal errand during working hours. According to testimony at the trial, Chisale was assaulted with machetes after returning to pick up some belongings and then was tied to a stake.

After being left bleeding for six or seven hours, Chisale was taken to the Mokwalo White Lion Project and thrown over the fence, screaming as the animals tore at his body.

Later, investigators looking for Chisale found only bones and blood-stained clothing.

Maluleke said Scott-Crossley had masterminded the attack, dragooning his employees to participate in the crime.