Tebogo Msimanga |
The Pretoria Regional Court sentenced Ruan Van Heerden (20), to 25 years of direct imprisonment for killing his mother. This is after Van Heerden pleaded guilty, and was convicted of murder, attempted murder, and robbery with aggravating circumstances. On 09 January 2020, his mother reprimanded him for stealing R200 from his father’s wallet, and later that evening, the mother was sitting in the living room and her husband, Barney Van Heerden went to sleep.
Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority Spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Ruan returned home with his friend Colson Williams Phelph, he took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed his mother, while his friend Phelph went to the bedroom where Barney was sleeping and assaulted him with a golf club. “ After Ruan stabbed his mother multiple times, he proceeded to his father’s room where he stabbed him also.”
The mother passed on 31 October 2021, as a result of the incident. The two were arrested in January 2020, Phelph requested to be sent to Weskopies Psychiatric Hospital for mental observation. “However, Psychiatric results revealed that Phelph is fit to stand trial, therefore his trial will start on 10 June 2022.”
In his Victim Impact Statement (VIM), Barney said he is severely traumatized by the incident and receives treatment for depression and anxiety. “Before his wife passed, he had to take care of her, with no knowledge of nursing a fragile patient. He further said this incident has now left him a widower and childless”. The NPA welcomed this sentence.
