Pretoria - Six years after her death, Anika Smit’s murder case is still no closer to being finalised.
Smit was raped and murdered in March 2010 and her mutilated body was found in her bedroom in her father’s Theresa Park home. Her throat was slit and her body riddled with stab wounds.
Her hands were severed and have never been found. After a lengthy inquest to determine if anyone could be charged with her murder, Johannes van Wyk is said to have handed himself over to police.
That was two months ago, and on Friday his case was postponed to December 15 in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court.
Van Wyk, 24, who did not attend the court proceedings, is charged with murder, rape and mutilating a corpse.
During the brief court proceedings Magistrate Pierre Wessels heard that Professor Louw Roos, from the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, needed more time to complete the tests and evaluation on the accused.
Van Wyk was admitted to the hospital to undergo psychiatric evaluation but because there was no bed available at the time, Wessels ordered that the accused be held in a single cell in the hospital wing of Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre until a bed became available. Now the doctor has asked for an extra 20 days to complete his evaluation due to a hectic workload, which Wessels granted.
It is expected that during his next court appearance Van Wyk will decide if he will apply for bail.
Smit’s murder gripped the nation due to its gruesome nature. Nico Venter, Smit’s then boyfriend, was at first arrested for her murder, but charges were dropped when police could not link him to her murder. The investigation into her murder then came to a halt as the lead investigator was transferred to the Oscar Pistorius case.
Her father, Johan Smit, was the one to find her body when he arrived home from work that day.
Smit, who was age 17 at the time of her murder, was a Grade 11 pupil at Hoerskool Gerrit Maritz.
She had not gone to school that fateful day because of an ear infection.
During the inquest the court heard varying tales of how Smit could have been involved in Satanism.
Pretoria News