‘Was he already dead when you carved him up?’
|Published
The mother of murdered and dismembered Jerobejin van Wyk has described in a heart-wrenching letter her grief for her son who she “birthed as a full body but received back in pieces”.
Triesa van Wyk’s letter was read as part of the victim impact report submitted to the Western Cape Circuit High Court sitting at Vredendal as part of the sentencing proceedings.
Earlier this week, judge Hayley Slingers, convicted Daniel Smit for the premeditated murder of 13-year-old Jerobejin.
Smit was found guilty of attempted murder, kidnapping, premeditated murder, violating a corpse and defeating the ends of justice.
In her letter written in Afrikaans, Van Wyk said she is writing to the court to tell of her “deepest hurt so that everybody knew how a mother’s heart feels after her child was taken from her in such a brutal manner”.
Van Wyk detailed how she had returned from work, learnt her son was missing and the following day when she heard what had happened to Jerobejin, her “heart broke in 100 pieces”.
“Ek was die vorige dag daar, kan jy onthou? Ek het jou gevra waar my kind was. Ek kan nie dink hoe jy in jou kapasiteit as ook ‘n ouer van kinders dit oor jou hart kon kry om ‘n ander ouer se kind so brutaal te vermoor en op die koop toe opgekap het nie. Dit was mos darem nie ‘n dier nie. (I was there the day before; do you remember? I asked you where my child was. I cannot fathom how, in your capacity as a parent yourself, you could bring yourself to murder another parent’s child so brutally and even dismember them. He was no animal).
“Op die dag wat ons na die lykshuis geneem was, was my verwagting om ten minste ‘n liggaam te sien, net om ‘n klein plastiek sakkie met onvolledige liggaamsdele tegemoet te loop. Ek wil nog steeds weet wat was my kind se laaste woorde. Het hy my naam geroep? Was hy reeds dood toe jy hom opgekerf het? (On the day we were taken to the morgue, I expected at least to see a body only to be met by a small plastic bag with incomplete body parts. I still want to know what were my child’s last words? Did he call out my name? Was he already dead when you carved him up?” Van Wyk wrote.
Van Wyk detailed how their family has been torn apart by the tragedy of Jerobejin’s murder and pleaded with the court to remove such monsters from society.
Self-confessed cultist Smit told the court that he had chased Jerobejin and a friend with his white bakkie after they had allegedly stolen fruit from his yard.
After knocking Jerobejin with his bakkie, he loaded the teenager onto his vehicle, took him to his house where he later broke the boy’s neck.
After concealing his body in a freezer, Smit dismembered Jerobejin’s body and disposed of it in a fire and drains on his property.
Cape Times