CAPE TOWN - A former Cape Flats pastor convicted of murder, rape, crimen injuria and theft was sentenced to an effective fifty years behind bars in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
Keith Bird entered into a plea of guilty on two counts of murder, seven of rape, four of crimen injuria as well as theft.
Bird was expected to be sentenced on March 20 but Judge President John Hlophe postponed proceedings to give the accused time to study the document.
The former pastor was arrested in 2017 for the murders of Sharvonne Koense, 20 and An-Niesa Bardien, 36, who he killed after she broke off their engagement.
Bardien's decomposed body was found several days after her disappearance.
Bird also allegedly used social media to lure women. In one case in May 2014, he arranged to meet a woman through Facebook, on the pretext of offering her a modelling job. He then allegedly took out a knife and taser and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
In January 2014, he used social network app "mxit" to meet one of the complainants. He visited her at her home and allegedly raped her, threatening to shock her if she did not co-operate. He also allegedly stole her Blackberry cellphone.
The state says he returned to her house twice a week from January to May, threatening her and her family if she did not comply with his demands for sex.