Cape Town - The man accused of beheading a Ravensmead teen in an apparent Satanic ritual has admitted to murder.
Algar Swartz shocked the Western Cape High Court on Monday when he changed his plea to guilty, and admitted he was a Satanist.
The 20-year-old is accused of brutally killing 15-year-old Lee Adams on October 17, 2013.
Lee’s headless body was found at the derelict Florida Primary School in Ravensmead.
His head was later dug out of Swartz’s yard where cops also found paraphernalia that suggested Satanism was a motive for the killing.
Read: Cape teen beheaded in ‘satanic ritual’
On Monday, through his lawyer Sheriff Mohamed, Swartz admitted to strangling Lee and stabbing him numerous times until he died, before decapitating him.
Swartz also admitted to inciting others to commit murder by luring potential victims to their death so that he could sell their body parts to sangomas.
And he said a fingerprint found in a bloodstain on the wall at the school was his, and that the tissue paper found with blood in the rubbish bin of his bedroom was Lee’s.
“Although I consumed alcohol and dagga during the day, I could still appreciate the wrongfulness of my conduct,” Mohamed read on his client’s behalf.
“I was a follower of Satan at the time.”
Shortly after this, both the State and the defence closed their cases.
Magistrate Elize Steyn postponed the matter to March 2 for arguments before judgement can be delivered.
Outside court, Lee’s relatives cried and hugged each other following the shocking admissions.
Read: Shocking cases of Satanism in Cape schools
His aunt, Letitia van Schalkwyk, 44, told the Daily Voice that the family was happy the matter was finally coming to a close.
“Lee was a pleasant child, he was like any other teenager with his problems but he was a joy to us as a family,” she said.
“It is just sad that he was killed like that, nobody deserves to go like that.
“We are happy the truth is out and justice will take its course, but it won’t bring him back.
“I think he [Swartz] should be taken away from his family like he look Lee away from us.”
Daily Voice