Cape Town - Eighteen years after Russel Van Wyk killed her daughter, Sylvia Farmer believes he, the other offenders and their families, are still unapologetic.
Farmer said she struggled to process the death of her only daughter, Valencia, who at the age of 14 was gang-raped and murdered in Eerste River in 1999.
She said the release of Van Wyk on parole this week had opened old wounds.
“I will never forgive them. Never! She was just 14 years old, how can I forgive them? They never showed any remorse. But time will heal. It has been 18 years but still feels like it all happened yesterday. I remember every moment and I still battle with the memories,” said the mother.
“I will never see her again, but they can go back to their families and they can get visited by their families. She is not here, who can I go visit? How can you stab someone more than 50 times near her house?
“They have robbed my daughter of her future. She wanted to be a doctor, they robbed me the opportunity to see her grow, and her young brother who was 4 at that time, of a brother-and-sister relationship.”
Valencia Farmer
Farmer said her son, now 22, knows what happened and still remembers his sister but he never wants to speak about it. She said the community is upset and they fear Van Wyk could re-offend .
Van Wyk, who was 16 at the time of the attack, has served more than two thirds of his 23-year sentence.Two others were handed two life sentences each in 2001 and a fourth was convicted and sentenced to 23 years last year.
Regional Correctional Services commissioner Delekile Klaas said strict bail conditions were imposed, which included house arrest and monitoring. He said electronic monitoring was not part of the bail conditions.
Commission for Gender Equality spokesperson Javu Baloyi strongly condemned the release on parole, saying it would send the wrong message to society, and is “truly disgusted”.
“All four should have received the same double-life sentence as it sends a strong message that gender-based violence and other related matters are being taken seriously by the criminal justice system.
“They showed no remorse so there is a high possibility that they will re-offend.
“The family should have been consulted by the correctional services. We do not trust he will be monitored 24 hours.
“This definitely will not give courage to other victims of gender-based violence to come out and testify, as they know they will face their offenders in few years.
“They must be locked away and be sentenced to life, especially if you brutally kill some like that,” Baloyi said.