'Boot killer' gets 17 years

2007-12-06 17:21

Pretoria - The so-called "boot killer", Daniel van der Walt, was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison for brutally beating and strangling a frail young prospective employee.

Van der Walt, a powerfully built blockman who used to work at a butchery, admitted that he had in February last year murdered petite Marlene Mauer, 20, during a job interview at his parents' house in Meyerspark.

He claimed she became angry when she realised there was no real job, that a struggle had ensued with both landing on the ground and that he had put his hand over her mouth and nose "to calm her down".

He could not remember anything further until he found himself sitting on top of the dead girl with his hands around her neck.

Afterwards, he had driven around for seven hours with Mauer's body in her car before he left the car in a parking lot in Hatfield, where police found her stuffed into the boot with a plastic bag around her head.

Passing sentence, Judge John Murphy said the brutal, senseless attack on such a fragile young woman demanded a sentence in excess of the prescribed minimum.

Brutal and devastating

Mauer's last moments on this earth were no doubt "absolutely horrendous".

Justice had to be done, he said.

He said Van der Walt's description of the crime was not satisfactory, but whatever the cause of the incident, it was clear that the attack on Mauer had been brutal and of devastating consequences. Van der Walt was powerfully built while his victim was a slight young woman who weighed a mere 49kg.

A post mortem revealed that, apart from being strangled, she also had numerous other injuries, including a broken skull, and had bled profusely.

The judge said he accepted that Van der Walt was not very intelligent, showed signs of brain damage and had abused drugs, but did not accept that these factors had diminished his responsibility when he committed the crime.

He had, after all, managed to function normally and was a devoted father and responsible worker up until the murder.

Although he accepted Van der Walt's remorse about what he did and that he had not planned the murder, it was aggravating that he had murdered an attractive young woman in the prime of her life and had deeply traumatised her mother, who had already lost a husband and a son by then.

It was also aggravating that he had lured Mauer to his home under false pretences and after murdering her had made callous attempts to conceal the murder.

Violent crime against women and children had reached alarming proportions and there was growing moral outrage about these crimes. Our courts could not shirk their duty, however sad the circumstances, Judge Murphy said.

World 'too small'

Mauer's mother, Joey Coetzer, reacted with shock about what she perceived as a too lenient sentence, insisting that life imprisonment would have been more appropriate for the man who took her "sunshine" daughter's life.

"What is 17 years? He will be 47 when he comes out. That's how old I am now. If he comes out, he will have a whole life in front of him, while she had nothing of her life.

"She wanted to get married and have children. Her life was in his hands and he just took it. Even after 17 years the world will still be much too small for us both," she said.

- SAPA