Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has sentenced 22-year-old Adrian Hendricks to life behind bars, an effective 25-year term, for the murder of a Hawks warrant officer in July last year.
Fifty-year-old Petrus Holtz was fatally stabbed on July 29, 2015.
His wife, Rene Holtz, sat behind the prosecutor with tears streaming down her face as Hendricks was sentenced.
Holtz, a father of two, was travelling on the infamous stretch of road between Somerset West and Khayelitsha, dubbed the N2 Hell Run, in Cape Town when he was attacked.
He was attached to the Hawks’ Commercial Crimes Unit and was on his way to the Bellville office early in the morning, when his car struck rocks placed on the road.
A common modus operandi of criminals, it forces drivers to stop their vehicles, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.
In Holtz’s case, two of his tyres were punctured. He immediately phoned for assistance, but in the 10 minutes that it took for help to arrive, he was murdered.
The court found that Hendricks had intentionally placed rocks in the road, and when Holtz’s car pulled over, he pounced.
When Judge Robert Henney convicted him earlier this month he said Hendricks had used brute force to drive a knife four centimetres into Holtz’s leg, severing an artery.
Holtz’s cellphone and GPS were stolen in the attack.
Less than two weeks before the attack, another motorist fell victim to the same modus operandi. Jacques Loots, on July 17, drove over rocks on the same stretch of road, puncturing one tyre.
When he pulled over, Hendricks appeared, pulled out a knife and a struggle ensued. In that case, Loots managed to get into his car and drive away. His cellphone was also stolen.
On Thursday, Judge Henney sentenced Hendricks to five years for malicious damage to property for the July 17 incident. He sentenced him to a further 10 years for the attempted robbery of Loots with aggravating circumstances.
For the July 29 incident, Hendricks was sentenced to five years for malicious damage to property, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, and life for murder. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
Henney said the manner in which the crimes were planned was “shocking and reprehensible”.
In the first case, Loots was lucky to have survived as he was “stabbed in the collarbone, close to the jugular vein”.
“In both cases the accused was brutal and vicious in his attack.”
Henney said Hendricks had been “persistent in being dishonest about what he had done” and lacked remorse.
The attacks had “instilled a fear in road users using that specific stretch of road”. Henney said police were forced to stretch resources to patrol the area.
The N2 was used by ordinary citizens, business people, tourists, and to transport workers and it was “important that the integrity of this road is protected against acts of criminality”.
He said the accused was indiscriminate, “it did not matter to him who the victims were”.
“He brazenly and wantonly terrorised road users.”
Henney said he was not convinced Hendricks had shown genuine remorse. He “belatedly, during mitigation of sentence, decided to testify and said he was sorry for what he had done. He admitted he stabbed the deceased, but said he hadn’t meant to kill him”.
The judge said he had “agonised over whether imposing the strongest sentence would be sacrificing the accused on the altar of deterrence”.
“In cases like these, retribution and deterrence should come to the fore.”
Hendricks showed no emotion as he was sentenced.
His grandmother, who watched from the public gallery above, clutched a tissue and wiped at her eyes.
Outside court, she said she had raised Hendricks from the age of five after his parents died. She said: “He should have told the truth from the beginning.”
Rene Holtz refused to speak to the media, saying only that she was satisfied with the outcome.
African News Agency