Cape family’s grief over murder of paediatrician
A CAPE Town family have spoken out for the first time about their grief after the murder of renowned Stellenbosch doctor Louis Heyns.
They believe Heyns, described by close family members as a respected doctor, valued husband and loving father, 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 in a shallow grave on the Strand beachfront eight days later.
Marthinus van der Walt, 35, has pleaded not guilty to hijacking, kidnapping and killing the Stellenbosch paediatrician.
In closing arguments in the Western Cape High Court this 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 he 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 said 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 did not know what he was doing because he was drugged, and was provoked.
This deviated from the defence’s arguments earlier in the trial. Initially, they said it was an accident and that the accused did not know the assault would result in death.
Heyns’s brother-in law, Andre Mouton, described what has been heard in court as a “Reeva Steenkamp scenario”, saying Heyns was “not here to speak for himself”.
His wife, Dalene Heyns, said they had been married for 33 years and that his friends, family and colleagues believed he would never have solicited sex from another man. She said the trial had been difficult for all those who knew him, particularly his three children. His oldest son, Charl, and his wife were expecting their first child..
Judgment has been set down for Tuesday. – ANA