Rene’s alleged killer appears
A PACKED Wynberg Magistrate’s Court yesterday heard that the man accused of murdering a Lavender Hill teenager will remain behind bars until his next appearance when he is expected to apply for bail.
Andrew Plaatjies, 50, is charged with the attempted rape and murder of 13-yearold Rene-Tracy Roman, whose decomposed body was found wrapped in a carpet in a shed last month.
Plaatjies appeared passive as he entered the dock, and the public yelled at him from the gallery. He was arrested in Stellenbosch after going missing from his Lavender Hill home.
Scores of people gathered outside the court in the rain, calling for bail to be denied. They held posters reading “Justice for Rene”, “enough is enough” and “hands off our children”.
The case was postponed to April 25, and prosecutor Phumeza Mtuyedwa-Zondi said the State would oppose bail.
Meanwhile, thousands of Mitchells Plain residents said their final goodbyes to 11-year-old Stacha Arends. Her lifeless body was found face-down last week, a day after she disappeared from her Tafelsig home.
Yesterday, she was described by neighbours who knew her as friendly, outspoken, full of life and humble.
Stacha was kidnapped, raped and murdered about a week ago. A 31-year-old suspect, Randy Tango, appeared in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court on Monday, and remains in custody until his next court appearance on May 3.
Not everyone who attended Stacha’s funeral service could be accommodated inside the Orion Church International in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, and some had to wait outside.
Stacha’s family asked for privacy, and did not want to comment about their feelings. Stacha’s cousin Suraya Francis read the obituary and described her as someone who had “a heart of gold”.
“I will remember her sweet little voice and the love she had for others,” said Francis as she wept.
Francis said she last spoke to Stacha on the afternoon she went missing.
“You will for ever be in our hearts, rest in peace,” she said.
A Mitchells Plain police officer Cas Goolam, who paid tribute to her, told the mourners that the investigation proved that Stacha pleaded with her killer before he killed her.
Goolam added: “During our investigation, it came to my attention that Stacha was a brave girl. As a police officer, I don’t think I can ever be as brave as she was.
“What transpired in the events was spiritual as she said, ‘Leave my people alone, kill me. Jesus knows you’.”
Stacha leaves behind her mother, father, brothers and grandparents.
Police have yet to identify the body of a woman discovered in a shallow grave in Grassy Park.