Who is Dylan Cullis and where did it go wrong?
‘The accused has to live with his conscience. He intends to change his ways and look at his incarceration as an opportunity to better his ways and learn more skills to rehabilitate himself ’
An only child to two loving parents, Dylan Cullis, 22, matriculated from Alexander Road High School in Newton Park in 2019.
Thereafter, he did his competencies to become a security guard at his father’s thensecurity business.
He was employed for four months at Shoprite Checkers in Greenacres.
Before his arrest, he had been a bartender at Hotspot Sports Bar in Rowallan Park, and his parents — William and Sharlotte — had supported him with pocket money.
William is a former police officer and Sharlotte is a nurse at a local wound clinic, where William also helps out. At the time of Cullis’s arrest, he was living with them at their Burt Drive, Newton Park, home.
Soon after his arrest, he learnt that his girlfriend was pregnant and the baby girl was born on May 15.
His parents assist with the maintenance of the child.
But where did it all go wrong?
In a startling affidavit, now convicted murderer Cullis told how he had started using drugs when he was in grade 9, and before his arrest he was smoking weed mixed with Mandrax tablets, snorting CAT, and smoking and snorting tik.
He also drank alcohol regularly. Since his arrest and incarceration in October 2021, he has been clean.
He only met Section 204 witness Mario de Ridder Jnr, who is younger than him, a few weeks before the murder.
He knew that Vicki Terblanche’s boyfriend, Reinhardt Leach, and De Ridder Jnr, were allegedly involved in the perlemoen underworld and claimed to have, on one occasion, accompanied them to keep a lookout for police when poaching took place.
Defence advocate Hannelie Bakker, instructed by attorney Ryno Scholtz, told the court that Cullis did not benefit financially from the murder and had co-operated with the police from the moment they arrived at his home. “He immediately informed them that he knew where the body was, took them to the scene of Vicki’s grave, and made a confession concerning the part he played in her murder.
“He has indicated he will testify against his co-accused in the trial should the state call upon him to do so,” Bakker said.
“He has resigned himself to
the fact that he will spend a long time in prison because he appreciates the gravity of the offences committed.
“He further accepts that Vicki’s murder is particularly heinous and deserving of harsh punishment.”
Bakker said Cullis remained deeply remorseful for all the pain and suffering he had caused to Vicki’s family and child, his parents and to his own child.
“The accused has to live with his conscience.
“He intends to change his ways and look at his incarceration as an opportunity to better his ways and learn more skills to rehabilitate himself.”
Cullis was yesterday sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment for murder, 10 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, and five years for defeating or obstructing the course of justice.
The sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve an effective 18 years’ imprisonment.
The state alleges Vicki was murdered at the behest of her husband, Arnold Terblanche, because the two were going through a messy divorce and custody battle over their minor son at the time.