Steyn put on spot over cellphone records ‘coincidence’

OMPHITLHETSE MOOKI

omphitlhetse.mooki@inl.co.za

JOHANNES Steyn appeared to tie himself into knots yes-terday trying to explain his way out of cellphone records that placed him in the same locations as the “Sunday rapist”.

He said that at times he had been visiting family or was just driving around searching for prostitutes to satisfy his “strong sexual urges”.

Sometimes, Steyn could not remember how he had ended up in the same area as the rapist on days young girls had been abducted and raped.

Cellphone records have placed him at various scenes around Krugersdorp, Carletonville, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Vanderbijlpark and Pretoria where young girls were abducted and raped.

Yesterday, State advocate Carina Coetzee sought answers from him.

In the Johannesburg High Court yesterday, Steyn blamed his addiction on pornography, saying it had consumed his life and driven him to drive around searching for prostitutes.

“I’m a man and I’m always in the mood,” said Steyn.

He added that he often watched pornography first thing when he got to work and that the love for pornography intensified his sexual urges.

He said he had picked up prostitutes to satisfy his desires and this could explain why his cellphone had picked up signals around the Pretoria area on the day 14-year-old Lazanne Farmer had leapt to her death from the alleged Sunday rapist’s moving car.

His phone had picked up signals from the Danville tower in Pretoria West – 3.5km from where Lazanne and her friend were kidnapped at gunpoint.

Steyn said he had been driving around the Sunnyside and Pretoria West areas searching for prostitutes – the same thing he had done on the day of schoolgirl Louise de Waal’s abduction and murder.

Steyn said he had picked up a prostitute named Cindy, taking her first to his home for oral sex and a strip show, before driving to the Maropeng area, where Louise’s charred remains were found.

The trial continues.