Pretoria – The family of murdered couple Anisha and Joey van Niekerk has called for a life sentence for the killers after they were convicted of the double murders on Wednesday afternoon.
Joey’s sister Rina Payne said the three years since their gruesome murders had been hell for the family.
Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Bert Bam said there was no doubt all four had planned the murders and had a common purpose to execute it.
The man said to be the mastermind behind the gruesome killings, Koos Strydom, was absent in the dock, as he had committed suicide last year in jail by apparently taking an overdose of pills or poison.
But there is no doubt that Strydom, too, would have been convicted alongside his wife Mercia Strydom and co-accused, Aaron (James) Sithole, his brother Jack Sithole and Alex Modau.
The killing of the Van Niekerk couple was gruesome and the evidence, which had been led over a couple of months, shocked everyone.
The motive for the December 10, 2017 killings, which also shocked the Mooinooi community near Brits, appeared to be greed.
The court heard Koos Strydom wanted to have the plot which the couple owned, but could not afford it.
While he stayed on a plot nearby, he ran his panel beating business from the Van Niekerks’ premises.
He and his wife had set up a bogus purchase contract and, with the aid of their fellow killers, lured the couple to Koos Strydom’s plot on the day of the murders.
The couple was forced to sign the contract, before they were subjected to rape, torture and eventually death.
The pair went missing on the Sunday of their death. Their burnt-out car was found on December 16 in the Magaliesburg area.
It emerged that Koos Strydom, his wife and co-accused kidnapped, robbed and killed the Van Niekerks that day.
Hair-raising evidence emerged of how they were raped more than once, and later hung in a shipping container on the plot until they died.
But this was not the end for the pair, as their bodies were burnt beyond recognition.
The site where their remains – mainly bones – were dumped, was later “cleaned” by Mercia Strydom and others with pool acid. Their vehicle was also set alight.
The court heard how the pair cried while being raped and begged for their lives as they were hung side by side.
Judge Bam said all fingers pointed at them being the killers.
Payne said it was a terribly difficult time for them to sit in court for the past three years – since the arrests – and to listen to the details of how their loved ones were murdered.
“It was unbearable to listen through what my sister and Anisha had to go through before and after their deaths. I am just happy that the killers will have to pay for what they have done.”
The family are calling for a life imprisonment sentence for each when they return to court on October 15 for sentencing proceedings.
Mercia Strydom, who had been out on bail since now, will now await her sentence in jail.
Pretoria News