Judgment expected in Jerobejin van Wyk murder case
The teenager was killed in February 2022 after he and a friend were accused of stealing fruit from Daniel Smit's property.
Murder accused Daniel Smit appeared in the Vredendal Magistrates Court on 7 October 2024. Picture: NPA
CAPE TOWN - Judgment is expected on Monday in the case against a Klawer man accused of the murder of 13-year-old Jerobejin van Wyk.
The teenager was killed in February 2022 after he and a friend were accused of stealing fruit from Daniel Smit's property.
Last week, the 58-year-old pleaded guilty on all five charges against him, including murder, kidnapping and violating a corpse.
He, however, denies that the murder was premeditated.
Smit admitted that he became angry when the boys mocked him, after he approached them about stealing fruit on his property.
He then chased Van Wyk with his bakkie, hit him and stopped to pick him up and put him in the back of the vehicle, before driving home.
Smit said he told the teen to go to his kitchen and he wanted to punish him, but when he saw the child was scared, he decided to give him a sandwhich and a cooldrink.
The 58-year-old said that while the boy was eating and drinking, he walked over, and, with a swift movement of his hands, broke his neck, as he was taught to do in the occult.
He then hid the body in a freezer, to hide the crime from his daughter, who was in the house.
Smit said he became involved with a Chinese occult group at the age of 13.
He was taught how to do black magic and cast spells and also, over time, got involved in satanism.