Focus on cop ex-hubbie of death cult mastermind
● While Cecilia Steyn languishes in jail, her ex-husband Andries has moved into sharp focus as police begin a new probe into those who may have abetted the Krugersdorp killers’ bloody murder spree.
Cecilia, 38, Marcel Steyn, 21 (no relation) and acolyte Zak Valentine, 34, were this week sentenced to a collective 28 life terms for murdering 11 people on Johannesburg’s west rand between 2012 and 2016. Marcel’s mother Marinda and her brother Le Roux, 23, are already serving time after accepting plea deals for their roles in the killings.
Cecilia was the mastermind of a religious fringe group called Electus per Deus — meaning chosen by God — which planned and executed the murders, first of their enemies and then of those they perceived to be wealthy.
Cecilia, who has two children, aged 12 and 16, with Andries, used tales of demonic attacks and possession to drive her foot soldiers to do her bidding.
The nondescript flat that Cecilia and Andries shared — described by Johannesburg high court judge Ellem Francis as the theatre in which killings were planned — could now be part of the new police probe.
Police found a collection of knives stashed at the flat. Police uniforms were also used as a disguise in one of the murders.
During the trial, the court heard that murders were plotted in the flat, with the killers giving Cecilia briefings in minute detail after a murder.
Just how much Andries — who is still on active police duty and who was divorced from Cecilia in 2018 — had seen and heard in the four years his wife and her disciples were planning and carrying out the murders is unknown.
Andries Steyn said that he was unaware of any investigation into his conduct. “If they want to arrest me they must come and do it then.” He would not be drawn to comment further, and deferred questions to the now incarcerated Cecilia.
Investigating officer Ben Booysen this week intimated that people in the police force would be probed. However, he would not comment on Andries’ possible involvement. “That is sub judice. Now that the killers have been sentenced, we are looking at others who may have been involved. Some people didn’t do their jobs and we are looking at that.”
Booysen said Marcel had been “stopped just in time. She would have grown up to take the reins from Cecilia. I spent a lot of time with her and, for a child, she’s a cruel, hard person.”
Mara Brandt, Cecilia’s elderly mother, told the Sunday Times this week that police were looking into Andries’ involvement. “The captain [Booysen] said he was going to arrest him [Andries Steyn] and some others after the sentencing. My worry is now the children, but of course I will take them in.”
The first people the group murdered were church member Natacha Burger, 33, and her neighbour Joy Boonzaier, 63, in 2012.
Shortly after Pastor Reginald Bendixen was hacked to death with an axe. Valentine’s wife, Mikeila, who was party to the killings but wanted out, was killed to silence her.
Between 2015 and 2016, the group murdered couple Peter and Joan Meyer, Jarrod Jackson, Glen McGregor, Anthony Scholefield, Hanlie Lategan and Kevin McAlpine.