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A 21-YEAR-old farmworker, Romeo Adriaan van Wyk, has been sentenced to 20 years of direct imprisonment for the chilling murder of Maria Magdalena Suzette Danster, 33, whose body he first buried in a shallow grave before later exhuming and discarding it by the roadside.
The Northern Cape High Court handed down the sentence on Monday, convicting Van Wyk on multiple charges, including murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, defeating the ends of justice, violating a corpse, and appropriation of another’s property.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane, the gruesome murder took place at Sandvlei Farm, near Carnarvon in the Pixley ka Seme District, where both Van Wyk and Danster worked as farm labourers.
Senokoatsane said that a dispute between the accused and the victim led Van Wyk to retrieve a firearm from his employer’s house, load it, and shoot Danster three times in the head while she slept on her stoep. He then buried her body in a shallow grave.
In a shocking turn of events, when Danster was reported missing, Van Wyk actively joined the search efforts alongside her son, pretending to help find her. However, upon learning that the police were planning a K9 search on the farm, he dug up her decomposed remains and discarded them alongside a road to cover his tracks.
Senokoatsane said that although Van Wyk pleaded guilty, he did not explicitly admit to premeditated murder. However, State advocate Mary-Ann Engelbrecht successfully argued that the crime was planned and deliberate.
The court imposed the following sentences:
The sentences for some of the lesser charges will run concurrently, meaning Van Wyk will serve an effective 20-year prison term.
Senokoatsane emphasised that the NPA remains committed to securing justice for victims of violent crime, particularly cases involving gender-based violence.
“This sentence serves as a deterrent to those who disregard the sanctity of human life,” he stated.