Cape Town - Convicted child killer Heinrich Rossouw was sentenced to 30 years direct imprisonment with no parole for 20 years for the murder of 9-year-old Gershwin Johnson in August 2017.
The sentence comes in the wake of a plea and sentencing agreement the convicted murderer entered into with the State. The sentence was meted out by Judge Daniel Thulare shortly after the agreement was submitted.
The child’s sobbing father, Nigel Theron, stood motionless after the proceedings outside Court 10 and was unable to speak to the media.
In his plea agreement the accused admitted that on the morning of August 2, 2017, he smoked tik and mandrax mixed with dagga. He took a stroll up the mountain, and later sat in an open field in Marula Street in Beverly Hills, Kleinmond.
He said he saw Gershwin and his younger brother on their way to school. When he asked them why they were so late for school they apparently replied by telling him to “voetsek”.
“I got angry and grabbed Gershwin, picked him up and threw him on the ground. The younger brother ran away. I strangled him, and stabbed him in the neck, face and chest.
“While stabbing the boy, I saw a rock, picked it up and crushed his skull with it.” He dragged the dead limp body and hid it, Rossouw said.
Judge Thulare said child murders in the Western Cape were the highest in the country.
@TheCapeArgus