Brutal killing horrifies judge
2006-09-21 23:48
Cape Town - The boyfriend of a 16-year-old Sir Lowry's Pass girl, who knifed her several times, cut her throat and assaulted her indecently with a metre-long iron stake, has been sentenced to lifelong imprisonment.
Judge Burton Fourie said in the Cape Town High Court the murder of Desiré van Nieting "has been one of the most brutal ways of killing someone that I've ever experienced."
Fourie sentenced Frederick "Frikkie" Diedericks, 26, to life imprisonment and an additional 20 years' jail for the gruesome murder on a farm on November 8 2003.
Desiré's family and friends burst into tears in a packed courtroom as Diedericks stared stonily at the judge.
Desiré's parents were so badly traumatised they couldn't attend the trial.
Advocate Bonnie Curry-Gamwo, for the State, said: "Desiré was murdered the cruellest manner possible.
Left to die in the veld
"Her final hours were barbarous, alone and painful. She was repeatedly stabbed like an animal and left in long grass in the veld to die." (about 50m from the home of Diedericks's parents).
Judge Fourie said he couldn't imagine "that one person could do this to another".
The court heard that Diedericks had wanted her to go drinking with him, but she had refused.
Diedericks, who apparently had a lot of girls in the area, took her by the hand and led her outside.
He returned after about an hour to his parents' home with blood-splattered clothes and told his mother: "I killed that bitch."
He went to wash the blood-smeared knife and iron stake at a tap and threatened to kill anyone present if they went to the police.
Diedericks was arrested a month later after repeatedly boasting about the incident.