Cape Town - “To satisfy your own sexual needs, you used an axe like a coward.”
This is what Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney told Andrew Plaatjies as he sentenced him to life for the murder of 13-year-old Rene Tracy Roman and handed him another life sentence for her attempted rape.
Plaatjies, who pleaded guilty to murdering and attempting to rape Roman, didn’t fight the sentence or the amendment to his plea, which initially asked for eight years in prison for attempted rape.
Tears streamed down the faces of family and community members of Roman who rejoiced at the sentences and said they had received justice for the 13-year-old girl.
She went missing from her home in Lavender Hill in March last year and community members searched for 10 days before discovering her mutilated body in a neighbour’s shed.
Rene’s parents and baby sister gathered outside the court and expressed their satisfaction at the conclusion of the case.
Rene’s father, Mervin Jacobs, warned parents to watch their children with close family members and friends.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re with an uncle or a house friend, always be alert because it’s very easy for this to happen. Look how it happened, it was a house friend,” he said.
Judge Henney said the case was the second in a short period where a young girl had been abducted and murdered.
“In all these cases the children are brutally assaulted. With all these sentences, you would think the crime would stop, but it’s just more prevalent.
“The question remains, how do we stop people like you from committing unspeakable deeds on children?
“In most of these cases it proceeds with a child being abducted by someone known. Either a neighbour or uncle or family friend. This is what makes if difficult to curb these offences, because you tell children to be careful of strangers, but it seems these perpetrators are not strangers,” said Judge Henney.
Plaatjies admitted in his plea to pulling a plastic bag over Rene’s head, pulling down her underwear and assaulting her with the back of an axe on her head three times before trying to rape her.
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