Man surrenders himself over teen’s gruesome killing

POLICE may have edged closer to unravelling the mystery behind the 2010 murder of Pretoria teenager Anika Smit, pictured, after arresting a 24-year-old man who claimed to have all the information.

The man is expected to appear in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court today in connection with the murder of the 17-yearold. Coincidentally, the inquest into the murder is scheduled to resume in the same court today.

Police spokesman LieutenantColonel Lungelo Dlamini said the man handed himself in on Friday, saying he had information regarding the teenager’s murder.

Anika’s body was found in her home in Theresa Park.

Her hands were cut off and her body riddled with stab wounds.

Her throat had been slit and she had been raped. The missing body parts were never found.

Testimony on Satanism and occult activities took centre stage when a witness known as “Vampire” took the stand during the inquest. The young man had used the name on the messaging app Mxit.

Vampire attended Pretoria North High School and had allegedly been bullied by other pupils because of his thin build. He said the reputation of being affiliated with satanism followed him when he transferred to Gerrit Maritz High School, the same school Anika attended.

Vampire was one of the people taken in for questioning days after Anika’s death.

The teenager had not gone to school on the day of her death because of an ear infection and Niko Venter, the boyfriend with whom she had just broken up, was arrested.

After charges against him were withdrawn, the case came to a standstill when the investigating officer was transferred to handle the Oscar Pistorius case.

The inquest had been instituted in 2014 by magistrate Pierre Wessels, who had said that the aim was not to convict or acquit, but to allow records to assist him in deciding if there was sufficient evidence to prosecute anyone for the murder.

Wessels would examine records from the case, including the withdrawal of charges against Venter.