Naked ex-cop 'made advances'

2005-08-30 22:39

Liela Magnus

Pretoria - A man told Pretoria High Court on Tuesday he strangled a former policeman during a struggle, after the naked man apparently had made sexual advances.

Johannes Arend Strydom, 36, of Pretoria pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide.

He was initially charged with murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances, but the State withdrew the robbery charge.

Strydom was arrested in 2004 after the naked corpse of Lukas Cornelis Viljoen was found in Landau Flats in Pretoria city centre.

Strydom's explanation of plea states that he and Viljoen had gone to the flat, because Viljoen apparently wanted to lend Strydom a pair of shoes.

That night they both had been very drunk and Strydom's sandals had broken.

Strydom put on the shoes and Viljoen placed clothing and an iron in a red holdall. Strydom was also to have borrowed these from Viljoen.

Started making advances

In his plea explanation, Strydom stated that he fetched two beers from the fridge and, when he looked around, Viljoen was standing naked behind him.

Strydom went to sit on the bed and Viljoen sat on his lap and started making advances.

Strydom said he shoved Viljoen off his lap, but Viljoen was persistent, even after Strydom told him he did not want to get involved in an affair with him.

"I shoved him away and he fell on his back on the floor.

"He was screaming and swearing and got to his feet with the beer bottle in his hand and said he was going to beat me up," read the plea explanation.

Strydom claimed he hit Viljoen in self-defence and had only a vague memory of strangling him.

He pushed a piece of cloth in Viljoen's mouth to shut him up, because he said Viljoen was screaming and swearing.

A post-mortem found that Viljoen had suffocated and might have been strangled.

Strydom said he thought Viljoen was still alive when he took the bag and left the flat.

- Beeld