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Child killer 'abused' as a kid
01/08/2007 13:45 - (SA)
Cape Town - Murderer Theunis Olivier attempted suicide at the age of five following repeated sexual abuse suffered as a child growing up in Harare, Zimbabwe, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.
Giving evidence in mitigation of his sentence, Olivier said he was sexually abused by his alcoholic father and others until he decided to commit suicide.
"I was rescued by a teacher who heard me as I tried to hang myself from a tree. My early childhood was incredibly traumatic and horrific," he said.
Olivier told how his father would come home drunk and abuse his mother and the children.
"These beatings and sexual abuses were almost on a daily basis," he said.
After his father was eventually arrested, his mother abandoned him, and came to live in South Africa with her boyfriend.
"I cannot say I had ever felt loved by my mother," he said, adding that he was later adopted by one of the families in Salisbury (now Harare).
He also told the court that other senior learners also sexually abused him at school.
Shortly after his 2005 arrest, Olivier confessed before a lower court magistrate that he had kidnapped, sodomised and murdered six-year-old Siebert.
However, he pleaded not guilty to all three charges, saying he was not of a sane mind when he committed the crimes and therefore could not be held responsible for his actions.
Olivier was convicted on Tuesday for the kidnapping, indecent assault and murder of six-year-old Steven Siebert.
He was due to be sentenced later on Wednesday.
- SAPA
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