Tearful daughter testifies
KIDS ASK WHY THEY CAN’T VISIT MURDERED GRANDMA IN HEAVEN Leandri Visser paints dark picture ahead of ex-husband’s sentencing.
Her two young children could not understand why heaven did not have visiting hours so they could see their murdered grandmother again, a weeping young mother told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday.
Leandri Visser testified in aggravation of sentence against her former husband, Stefan Visser, 29, who was convicted of murdering his mother-in-law, Pastor Elsabé van Niekerk, at the family’s panel beating business in Gezina a year ago.
Visser admitted that he had stabbed Van Niekerk to death in a fit of anger after she hit him with her handbag during an argument about his pending divorce, but insisted he had never planned the murder.
He admitted in an earlier statement that he had pulled a balaclava over his head after the first stab wound when he realised that a neighbour was filming him and then carried on gouging and hacking Van Niekerk to death.
His former wife wept as she testified how her mother’s murder had torn her family apart and brought them to the edge of financial ruin.
Her mother was a pastor who counselled traumatised children. She was their rock and mentor and they could not understand why Visser had torn her away from them, as her mother had loved him like a son.
Her children were severely affected by her mother’s death and still searched for her every day.
Her father battled emotionally and had to receive counselling as he could not sleep at night and had recurring visions of finding his wife’s bloodied body. She could see him deteriorating day by day.
Her mother had been her partner in a photography business, but she could not continue with the business as it was no longer the same.
She said her mother was “love itself” and was never violent. Her mother had kept contact with Visser after he moved out and tried to uplift him, although she cautioned him about his drinking.
Visser’s attorney, Phillip van Staden, argued that the court should take into account that his client had pleaded guilty and shown remorse, but Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen said there was no evidence of remorse.
Prosecutor Pieter Luyt argued that the violence of the murder was aggravating and that Visser deserved at least 30 years behind bars. Visser will be sentenced today. –