Cape Town - The mayor of Cape Agulhas Municipality wants police to investigate the possibility of a serial killer at work in Bredasdorp, after the latest violent murder of a young woman.
Mayor Richard Mitchell says there were alarming similarities in the brutal murders of three females in the town in the past three years.
He says a specialist should be brought in to determine if the murders of Anene Booysen, Kayde Williams and Sulnita Manho, who were all brutally raped, mutilated and killed, are the work of a serial killer.
Sulnita, 22, Anene, 17, and five-year-old Kayde’s bodies were all found on the second of the month – on 2 April Sulnita’s body was discovered outside a building at the edge of Bredasdorp, young Kayde’s body was found on 2 February 2015, on the two-year anniversary of Anene’s death.
“All three murders took place on the second, all three happened in the same vicinity and if you look at the brutality of all three cases, it says a lot,” Mitchell tells the Daily Voice.
Mitchell was at Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court on Monday where 19-year-old Delwigo Ward appeared in connection with Sulnita’s murder.
A number of women, including Sulnita’s mother, aunt and cousins, stood outside court with placards depicting the faces of women slain in Bredasdorp.
At Ward’s first court appearance, the court heard that he had spent time at Stikland Psychiatric Hospital as well as Toevlug Rehab Centre in Worcester.
But on Monday prosecutor Stewart Van Coppenhagen said a report by a district surgeon indicated Ward is mentally fit to stand trial.
Ward’s Legal Aid lawyer Danté van der Merwe said instead of applying for Ward to be sent to Stikland for observation, his client would be applying for bail.
But when Magistrate Luddick Sass asked Ward about this, he replied: “Ek wil Stikland toe gaan. Ek wil my straf daar doen vir dit waarvoor ek nou in is.” ( want to be incarcerated in Stikland. That is where I want to serve out my sentence for the crime I have committed.)
Ward’s mother Dinah Ward, 47, says her son’s brain has been affected by a head injury, as well as drug abuse.
They claim Ward suffered brain damage when a thug beat him over the head with a golf club a few years ago.
His relative Nadia Saayman revealed: “A scan done at Toevlug showed he has permanent brain damage.”
Dinah said that although her son answered yes when asked if he killed Sulnita, she doubts he did it.
“He says yes to everything, he doesn’t really understand,” she explained.
Ward remains in custody until his bail application on May 10.
Daily Voice