Cape Town - Stacey Adams’s killer, Christopher Brown, has been sentenced to four life terms for the girl’s rape and murder, and for the murder of Thulisa Lavisa, the mother of his 4-year-old son.
Brown entered a plea and sentence agreement with the State at the Western Cape High Court. He was sentenced to four life terms plus nine months in jail, set to run concurrently.
Brown pleaded guilty to raping and then strangling Stacey, 6. Her naked body was discovered buried in a shallow grave next to Brown’s wendy house in De Larey Road, Eastridge, in Mitchells Plain on June 24 last year.
The summary of facts stated that Brown “choked Stacey with his arms around her neck and violently shook her and threw her on the floor. He then struck her with a metal pan twice over the head which caused her death”.
The State also reopened a cold case of 2015 where Brown assaulted Lavisa by hitting her with a fist in the face in August of that year. A month later, he strangled Lavisa to death and then hid her body under his bed. Lavisa’s body was discovered by her family the following day, September 21, 2015.
Brown pleaded guilty to assaulting and killing Lavisa.
A post-mortem report said she had sustained a fractured hyoid bone and her lungs were congested.
Court papers state that Brown
was previously arrested for Lavisa’s murder, but the charges were subsequently withdrawn.
Stacey Adams’s killer, Christopher Brown, has been sentenced to four life terms for the girl’s rape and murder, and for the murder of Thulisa Lavisa, the mother of his 4-year-old son. VIDEO: Zodidi Dano/Cape Argus
Judge Derek Wille, who convicted Brown, said the agreed sentence was “just”. As he went through the merits of the case Stacey’s mother, Sacha-
Lee Adams, sobbed while at the
other end of the gallery, Lavisa’s mother, Fundiswa Ngxengwana
had tears streaming down her face.
Outside court, Ngxengwana tried to speak to Brown’s father but was turned away as he hurried off.
Ngxengwana was soon joined by Adam’s mother, and the two
discussed how Brown failed to show any remorse.
Ngxengwana said it was the
first time she was seeing her daughter’s killer face-to-face despite him
having lived with her daughter in Khayelitsha before.
“I’m very happy with the sentence and that this man is finally going to pay for what he did to my daughter. He abused my child which is why she decided to leave, but he couldn’t stand that,” she said.
Following her daughter’s murder, Ngxengwana said, she had visited Brown’s home and spoke to his mother.
“I told her that now that her son has killed my daughter and got away with it, he would kill again.
“I was right. I am just sad that another young child had to be his victim,” she said.
Adams said: “It doesn’t matter how long he serves in jail, it won’t bring my daughter back.”
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