Johannesburg - Kirsty Theologo's brother on Friday told the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in Palm Ridge, he wished he could have saved his sister.
“I am not angry with you, I am not angry with God, but I feel angry that I couldn't help her,” Alex Noble told the two men convicted of his sister's murder.
“I wake up in cold flashes, thinking it's a bad dream... I wake from it over and over again,” he said in pre-sentencing proceedings.
He recounted how he went looking for his sister on October 21, 2011, the night she was struck on the head with a rock, doused with petrol and set alight by her friends in a Satanic soul-selling ritual on a hill in Linmeyer, south of Johannesburg.
Several hours later, Theologo, 18, arrived home severely burnt. She died from her injuries in hospital a week later. Her friend, who was 14 at the time, survived the attack.
Noble stood in the witness stand and said he accepted the apology of his sister's killers, cousins Robin Harwood and Lindon Wagner.
They were convicted of assault, murder, and attempted murder on Thursday.
Harwood and Wagner's mothers took the stand and pleaded with the Theologos to forgive them and their sons.
Harwood's mother Deidre Moses and Vanessa Arendse, Wagner's mother, said they understood the Theologo's pain.
“I would like to say to Sylvia (Kirsty Theologo's mother) that as a mother, I am sorry for the loss of your daughter. Be strong for your children's sake,” Moses said.
Arendse said: “I can understand what she (Sylvia Theologo) is going through. I hope she can forgive us and our children.”
Sylvia Theologo sobbed and rested her head on her mother's shoulder as she listened to proceedings. Earlier, she took the stand and told the court her family had changed.
“My children blame me because I am her mother and I was supposed to protect her.”
She said her son Alex had become disrespectful and aggressive. She would never forgive Wagner and Harwood, adding that if they wanted forgiveness they would get it from God.
“I thought these were good Christian boys.”
She said she had since turned to drugs but was receiving help.
Theologo's teenage friend who survived the attack also took to the stand.
“I forgive you 'cause one day when I get to heaven I will want my Father to forgive me,” she said.
She wore a black T-shirt and had used a black scarf to cover the burn scars on her neck and chest.
“From the top to the bottom of my heart, I forgive you. I miss the moments we had.”
Gail Sidwell, for Harwood, told the girl her client intended to get a job one day and send all his earnings to her, probably for her plastic surgery.
“He can send it to the person behind me,” she said, indicating that she was not interested.
She said she would never be able to be intimate with a man because of the burn scars. Her life had changed and her relationship with her mother had broken down. She was living with a family that she met through a church camp.
Judge Geraldine Borchers on Friday said she was scheduled for an operation and could only continue with the sentencing on February 11, 2014.
Sylvia Theologo burst into tears on hearing this.
“No, I can't do this anymore... I'm finished, I want it to end,” she cried.
Family members comforted her. Outside court she told reporters she rejoiced on Thursday when the verdict was handed down, thinking it would all be over soon.
Dressed in tracksuit pants and a striped blue, black and white T-shirt Wagner was led back to the cells, cuffed by the feet.
Harwood, who wore a white jersey over a blue shirt, followed behind.
Initially six people had been charged for Theologo's killing and the attempted murder of her friend.
Harvey Isha was acquitted of all the charges on Thursday. The only woman in the group, Courtney Daniels, 18, was convicted of common assault for lacing the victims' drinks with brake fluid prior to the attack. She was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for five years.
Two other men, Lester Moody and Jeremy King, earlier confessed to the killing and were sentenced to 17 years behind bars, five of which were suspended.
Sapa