Saunders sentenced to 2 life terms for ‘horrendous’ killing of Courtney

THE high court in Cape Town yesterday sentenced convicted child killer Mortimer Saunders to two life terms in prison – to run consecutively.

Saunders, who was convicted in November of the rape and murder of 3-year-old Courtney Pieters, was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

The self-confessed child killer was arrested in May 2017, after the body of Courtney was found in Epping Industria, nine days after she was reported missing from her Elsies River home.

Saunders denied raping the girl before she died but admitted to necrophilia. He also claimed she died after he fed her ant poison because she had been disturbing him at the house he shared with her and her family.

Handing down the sentence, Western Cape High Court Judge Babalwa Mantame said: “This court heard evidence on the murder statistics in the Western Cape, especially the cluster Elsies River falls under and from which this case emanates.

“The accused committed the most horrendous crime, including the extent of violence used, the cruelty of the attack, the nature and character of the victim normally aggravating the crime. For count one, which is rape, the court sentences you to life imprisonment. For count two (murder), the court sentences you to life imprisonment and declares you unfit to possess a firearm.”

Daniel du Plessis, a member of the Elsies River Community Policing Forum, said residents were happy justice had been served.