Murdered doctor ‘lured to gay pick up spot’

A CAPE TOWNfamily has spoken out for the first time about their grief after the murder of renowned Stellenbosch doctor Louis Heyns.

Described by close family members as a respected doctor, valued husband and loving father, they believe he was lured to a notorious gay pick-up spot in the Strand under false pretences.

Heyns went missing on the evening of May 22, 2013. His body was found eight days later in a shallow grave on the Strand beachfront.

Marthinus van der Walt, 35, has pleaded not guilty to hijacking, kidnapping and killing the Stellenbosch paediatrician. In closing arguments at the Western Cape High Court yesterday morning, prosecutor Samantha Raphaels told the court Van der Walt was guilty of robbing the doctor as well as murder, and that he had the direct intention to kill.

Van der Walt has testified that Heyns approached him for sex and was subsequently provoked into assaulting him.

He claimed that Heyns felt his penis through his clothing and said “you expect me to pay you, but your penis won’t even get hard”.

But, prosecutor Samantha Raphaels dismissed his version, arguing there were too many holes in his story.

She believes Van der Walt’s intention was to rob and kill. He took the keys of Heyns’s car and he looked for a buyer for the vehicle.

Defence advocate Gert Fourie argued that Van der Walt didn’t know what he was doing because he was drugged and provoked.

Judgment has been set for May 26. – ANA