Cape Town - Heinrich “Junior” Siegels, 30, is accused of stabbing two-year-old twins Rainetha and Rainecia Neelse to death with a broken glass.
The attack happened in front of the doomed tots’ traumatised mom Reinette Neelse, 25, who was injured in the slaughter.
And in a shocking twist, the Daily Voice can reveal that Siegels and the slain kids’ father were once cellmates.
The grieving young dad says he never expected to see his former jail buddy behind bars for the alleged double murder of his two-year-old twin daughters.
Ricardo Beukes, 25, was not allowed in court to see his daughters’ alleged killer face to face.
A large contingency of police officers formed a barrier in front of the container used as temporary courtroom at the Caledon Police Station on Tuesday to keep a crowd of angry residents away from the double murder suspect.
Dressed in a dark hooded top and light pants, Siegels appeared emotionless as he was led to makeshift court.
Visible on his left hand is a tattoo that reads: “If you hate me, kill me.”
Even the media was prohibited from entering the small court room where the suspect made a brief appearance before Magistrate Juanita Lambert on two charges of murder as well as a charge of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
“It’s for your own safety. What if he goes psycho in court?” said one cop referring to the barring.
This disappointed the large crowd who had gathered since early morning to catch a glimpse of Siegels.
“What did those innocent children do to you? “You deserve to die” and “Gee hom vir ons” shouted the angry crowd as Siegels was quickly led past them.
Meanwhile, the twins’ father said he never expected that his former jail buddy could do such a thing.
“He was in jail for rapes, drug cases and assaults over the years,” Ricardo explained.
“But despite this, he was rustig [calm] and I never thought he would be the sort to do something like this.”
He said he was happy when he heard that his ex-girlfriend Reinette Neelse, 25, was dating Siegels and even told him to take good care of Reinette and the twins, Rainecia and Rainetha.
“Even though he used drugs, I never feared for their lives because he took good care of them,” said the young dad.
But now he only wants Siegels to suffer the same fate as his daughters.
“A person who could kill two innocent children so brutally has no conscience and doesn’t deserve to live,” said Ricardo.
“He took my defenceless daughters’ lives and he deserves the same fate so that it can serve as a warning to other people making themselves guilty of similar crimes.”
After the court case, more than 300 residents, some of whom had gathered at the court since early morning for a glimpse of the alleged killer, marched to a suspected drug dealer for whom Siegels had allegedly sold drugs.
The community demanded that the alleged drug dealer move out of the Bloukraan Street, Uitsig, home he has been renting.
The cops kept a close eye on the crowd as the alleged drug dealer was forced to remove his possessions from the small RDP house.
He had to park his bakkie a street away while he cleared out the house.
“We’ve had enough of murders and other crimes due to drugs being sold in our community,” the crowd shouted.
“We won’t allow Uitsig to become like Hanover Park or Lavender Hill where drug dealers and gangsters rule the area.”
“We are here to force drug dealers to move out to ensure the safety and future of our children,” said community leader Jacques Brinkhuys.
Another resident, 52, who wishes to remain anonymous, says they will now target all other drug houses .
“From now on we don’t want any drug dealers or anybody accused of murder to get bail,” the 52-year-old mom said.
“They should rot in jail because they are destroying our youth.”
*This article was published in the Daily Voice