Pupil’s chilling joyride killing
He and a fellow pupil stole her car and laptop, leaving her dead on the ground. USED DAD’S GUN: KIDNAPPED AND SHOT SCHOOL SECRETARY IN THE HEAD
A former Brits schoolboy admits in the High Court in Pretoria yesterday he stole his father’s pistol, kidnapped the secretary at his school and shot her when she began struggling.
Aformer Brits schoolboy yesterday admitted in the High Court in Pretoria that he had stolen his father’s firearm and used it to kidnap a secretary at his school and shot her twice in the head.
Judge Bert Bam found the youth, now 18, guilty on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, theft and the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition after he admitted guilt to all of the charges.
His bail was withdrawn and his trial postponed to next month for a pre-sentencing report.
The trials of the youth and his co-accused, 17, were separated after the other youth denied guilt to the charges. His trial will proceed before another judge in June.
The student, who was a pupil at Rabboni Christian School in Brits, said in his plea explanation he had stolen his father’s pistol from the safe, put the pistol in his school bag and taken it to school on November 22, 2016.
He and his co-accused had agreed the previous day that they needed a car to drive around in and had decided to take the school secretary, Hester (Esbé) Koster’s, car.
When he got to school, he showed the pistol to the other youth. They went to the sports grounds to check how many live rounds were in the magazine and borrowed a roll of masking tape before going back to class.
When school was out, they waited for Koster, 55, next to her car and asked her for a lift to town. He was sitting in the back with the other youth in front. On the way he pointed the firearm at Koster and told her to drive to a secluded spot.
Near the main road in Letlhabile, he told Koster to stop and get out. The other boy was trying to tie her up with the masking tape, but she was fighting.
“She then tried to take the firearm out of my hands and I shot her in the head twice, picked up the cartridges from the ground and left her there,” he said.
The pupil admitted that his intention had been to kill Koster and that he had robbed her of her car and laptop.
“I am sincerely remorseful of my actions and beg for forgiveness from the court, the deceased’s family and the community,” he said. – ilsedl@citizen.co.za