Rust nurtured her killer, court told

WHILE convicted murderer Nigel Plaatjies was plotting to kill Wellington author Winnie Rust, she was trying to get him enrolled in the police service.

Yesterday Rust’s daughter, Helene Reid, testified in the Western Cape High Court that her mother had always created opportunities for Plaatjies.

“Nigel, you were welcomed in our home. You regularly sat with my mother at the table, and after eating she would help you with your homework.

“She created opportunities for you which other children in your community could only dream about. For those children you became a symbol, someone that rose above their circumstances,” she said.

Rust, 77, was murdered in her home in Third Avenue, Uitsig, on May 11, 2016.

Plaatjies and his uncle, Johannes Plaatjies, were convicted of her murder.

Reid said that after her mother’s death, while packing some things, she had come across notes her mother had written.

“While you were plotting her death she was planning a bright future for you. Her office was strewn with notes reminding herself about your important needs and milestones in your life,” she said.

Reid said that after Plaatjies passed matric, her mother was assisting him in getting into the police. She said Rust had arranged for him to get a driving licence and had given his mother, Lien Plaatjies, money to renovate their home.

A sobbing Reid said the family still wondered what Rust’s last words were.

“You have not spoken the truth about my mother’s last words, what her last words were in the brutal awakening that the person she had invested so much betrayed her.”

She said there was no apology made by Plaatjies to the family.

The former mayor of Wellington, which is now under the Drakenstein Municipality, Herman Bailey, told the court about Rust’s work in integrating the community.

He said the deceased was a part of Wellington’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the forceful removal of coloured people during the apartheid era. He said she had played a huge role in integrating the coloured and white communities in the area.

Plaatjies was expected to testify for a lesser sentence today.

YOU HAVE NOT SPOKEN THE TRUTH ABOUT MY MOTHER’S LAST WORDS