Valencia’s mom happy justice has been served
“I CAN sleep at night now. I was tense for a long time, but now I can breathe.”
Sylvia Farmer, the mother of murdered teen Valencia, has been waiting 16 years for justice.
Yesterday, the last of the men accused of her daughter’s murder, Elmario Maasdorp, was sentenced to 23 years behind bars.
Valencia was lured into an abandoned house in Eerste River where she was raped, stabbed more than 50 times, and had her throat slit.
Maasdorp appeared in the Blue Downs Regional Court where he pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of the 14-year-old.
Maasdorp was 22 at the time of the murder, and had been on the run until his arrest on September 13 last year.
He was sentenced to 23 years for murder and 23 years for rape, with the sentences running concurrently.
In his guilty plea, Maasdorp told the court that on June 26, 1999, he “unlawfully and intentionally raped Valencia”, adding she had not consented to sex near Eucalyptus Street, Beverly Park, in Eerste River.
He admitted that after the rape he stabbed her multiple times with a knife.
“I admit that I knew that what I was doing was wrong and that I could be punished for it,” Maasdorp told the court.
He said he was fully aware of what he was doing, was sorry for his actions and decided to plead guilty.
Describing what happened on that fateful day, Maasdorp said between 10pm and 11pm Valencia and her friend, Patricia Boyden, went to a local shebeen, Denise se Yard, where members of the Naughty Boys gang had gathered.
He said he and his accomplices – Franklyn Roberts, Russel van
Wyk and Glenville Faro – had later left the shebeen and walked to a dilapidated house – where the incident took place.
Valencia was found at around 4am the next day and rushed to Tygerberg Hospital, where she later died.
Roberts, Van Wyk and Faro were handed life sentences on March 26, 2001.
Sylvia Farmer, who was in court when Maasdorp was handed his sentence, said she was relieved that justice for her only daughter had been served.
“I was very relieved to know that he will be punished, that he will be jailed for a long time.
“I can move on with my life now, I can sleep at night now.
“I was tense for a long time, but now I can breathe.”
She said if Maasdorp had not fled and admitted guilt “in the beginning”, he would have been eligible for parole by now.
“If he was sentenced with the other accused, it would have been time for him to be set free.
“I feel that it is only justice that he got his punishment for the crime that he committed.
“He did not argue that he didn’t do it, he said he was at his full mental capacity when he did it.”
Maasdorp has to serve two-thirds of his term – 15 years – before he is eligible for parole.
Farmer said she was not entirely pleased with the sentence.
“It is not a reasonable sentence, but I don’t have a choice.
“Other people don’t even get justice; at least I got some justice.”
The grief- stricken mother is still struggling to come to terms with her daughter’s death.
“I can’t say that I have made peace. But what happened, happened.
“With each court case the wound was scratched open and I could not heal,” she said.
She thanked her community and women’s groups who attended court proceedings with her.
“There are people that surround me that try and help me where they can.
“I am thankful for people like that.”