'We are broken'

2009-08-31 22:05

Johannesburg - The mothers of both Krugersdorp schoolboy Morne Harmse and the student he killed with a samurai sword, wept as sentencing got under way on Monday.

Victim Jacques Pretorius's mother Adel Bekker wept and shook uncontrollably during her testimony in the South Gauteng High Court.

"We are broken. Totally fallen apart," she told the court.

Harmse, wearing a mask and brandishing an ornamental samurai sword, killed Pretorius, aged 16 and wounded three others during an attack at the Nic Diederichs Technical High School on the West Rand last August.

Bekker said her younger son, currently in Grade 5, was badly affected by the loss of his brother.

"He is not the friendly child he was."

He still spoke about his brother a lot, she said.

"They did everything together."

Letters left on grave

During Bekker's testimony, Harmse's mother also burst into tears.

Bekker, dressed in a black t-shirt and pants, said the family wrote Jacques letters which they put on his grave. They also kept a diary which they wrote in once a month.

Bekker said Jacques had loved pets and had a favourite bird named "Birdie" which she now looked after.

In their letters to him they always added "Greetings from Birdie".

Bekker said she kept the school clothes Jacques had been wearing on the day of his murder in a red case in her bedroom cupboard.

"I can't ever in my life forgive what he did to us," she said of Harmse.

Teen slept in parents' room

Also taking the stand was Pretorius's best friend, 17-year-old JC Welman.

He said after the murder he slept in his parent's bedroom for a week or two.

"It makes me sore that someone can do that to someone (else)," he said.

Schoolboy Stephanus Bouwer and two school employees, Lesiba Samuel Manamela and Tsiamo Joseph Kodisang who were wounded in the attack, also gave testimony on Monday.

Bouwer, who was wounded in the leg and head, said when he first saw Harmse with the mask and sword he thought he was doing a school project of some kind.

He said when the attack began: "We saw it but you don't click it is happening because you don't see someone getting hacked every day."

He said he no longer had feeling on the side of his head where he got slashed.

"That's why I grow my hair long because if I make it short it's a long scar [that's visible]."

Manamela said after he was hit during the attack he got frightened, "hearing the other kids screaming 'help, help'."

'I'm not free now'

Kodisang, who still bears a visible scar on his cheek, said after the attack he thought about quitting his job.

"Honestly, every time I resume work I get frightened. I'm not free now."

Through most of the proceedings, Harmse, wearing a blue striped jersey over his small frame, sat in the dock with his head bowed and shoulders hunched.

His mother was frequently tearful and his father grabbed Harmse in a tight hug as he first came into the dock, before sitting down to wipe his eyes.

'I pray for forgiveness'

Earlier Harmse's lawyer Dolph Jonker read out a letter Harmse had written to the judge, Phillip Hattingh.

"I want to make it clear that it was never in my heart to harm or kill anyone. I will for the rest of my life live with what happened."

Harmse also said he hoped the family of Pretorius and the other injured parties would one day forgive him.

"I pray and trust that the almighty will soften Mrs Pretorius's heart for her to forgive me."

He said he stood in court with a "heart full of sadness and ache".

"I am guilty and I ask with all respect that the judge shows me mercy."

Sentencing continues on Tuesday.
 

- SAPA