Cape Town - A man dubbed “The Scrapyard Killer” wants to pay child support for the five-year-old daughter of the man he beat to death.
Rudolph Erasmus hopes the court will see this offer as an act of remorse when his sentence is finally delivered in the Bellville Regional Court.
Erasmus, who weighs 120kg, was more than double the size of his victim Sergio Van Wyk, 24, who weighed in at a mere 50kg.
This didn’t stop Erasmus from beating him inside Makro Metals Scrapyard in Parow in December 2009.
Sergio died in hospital a day later.
On Wednesday, Erasmus’s lawyer Gert Etzebeth told the court his client was willing to pay R500 per month to Sergio’s daughter because the family were struggling financially.
He said that amount would increase by six percent each year and that Erasmus was remorseful.
He added that the court should consider a sentence outside of prison.
“He wants to pay R500 a month for the child and this is an offer of restoration,” Etzebeth told the court.
“This is a measure of remorse from the accused.”
Footage filmed on the night of the beating shows how Erasmus dragged Sergio’s limp body around.
Erasmus was found guilty on June 24 this year of murder and of the assault of Sergio’s friend, Ridwaan de Wet.
But Erasmus fled the courthouse during a tea break.
He then handed himself over to the police at Bellville Magistrates’ Court on July 19.
But State Prosecutor Nazlee Abdeljaoued said Erasmus has a history of violence.
Erasmus was found guilty of crimen injuria in January 2005, for which he paid a R150 fine, of assault in July 2008, for which he also paid a R150 fine and driving under the influence in Atlantis, for which he paid R10 000.
“The footage that was shown was shocking, the accused is a burly man who weighs 120kg and the deceased was 50kg. He [Erasmus] unleashed a provoked attack on the deceased,” Abdeljaoued said.
“He did not specify during cross-examination why he didn’t obtain an interdict, court order or call police if the deceased and friends were a problem.
“Nor did he call employees to testify to this.”
Outside court, Sergio’s mother Esme van Wyk said she did not want any money from Erasmus.
“I will refuse the R500 per month. I will raise my grandchild with my own money,” she tells the Daily Voice.
“The court must give a severe sentence, now he wants to pay his way out of prison.
“[Sergio’s] daughter turned five this month.”
Sentencing will take place on August 28.
Daily Voice