Anika Smit's alleged killer to remain behind bars
|Published
Johan van Wyk appears at the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court. Photo: Pretoria News Johan van Wyk appears at the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court. Photo: Pretoria News
Pretoria – Johan van Wyk, the man accused of the rape, murder and mutilation of Pretoria teen Anika Smit has been denied bail.
Van Wyk appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court on Friday to hear the judgment of his bail application.
Magistrate Pierre Willemse said in his judgment that since it was a schedule six offence, the onus was on him to prove that there were exceptional circumstances for him to be granted bail...which his defence team failed to do.
The fact that he handed himself in to police on September 17 and confessed to the crime to various people, including a magistrate, did not help his bail application.
Anika Smit's body was found in her home in Theresa Park. Her hands were cut off and her body riddled with stab wounds. Her throat had been slit and she had been raped. The missing body parts were never found.
Smit's mutilated body was found in her father's Theresa Park home in March 2010. Her throat slit, her body riddled with stab wounds and her hands were cut off, which have yet to be found.
She was a 17-year-old high school learner at the time.