All hell broke loose in Lavender Hill yesterday when a man who allegedly confessed to killing missing Rene-Tracy Roman was escorted by police to the house where her body was found.
More than 1 000 residents, including gangsters, threatened to kill Andrew Plaatjies, 50, who was arrested in Stellenbosch on Tuesday.
The child’s half-naked and bound body was found at his girlfriend’s house in St Agatha Crescent in Montague Village that same day.
The 13-year-old girl disappeared on March 10, when she went to a nearby shop to buy chips.
Plaatjies lives with his 58-year-old girlfriend two houses away.
According to police sources, Plaatjies confessed he saw the child walking past his house and called her inside to help with the washing.
Inside the house, it’s believed he tried to rape her, but ejaculated prematurely.
He then allegedly killed her with an axe and rolled her body up in his girlfriend’s carpet and hid her in the Wendy house in the backyard.
Her body was discovered by general worker Colin Louw, 33, after Plaatjies’ girlfriend noticed a stench coming from the backyard and asked Louw to clean.
Police said the girl was half naked, and her hands and feet had been tied up.
Rene’s biological father, Eugene Jacobs, said his daughter’s beautiful long black hair was also shaved off.
Plaatjies left Montague Village on Saturday to visit family in Stellenbosch.
When police took him to the crime scene yesterday, which is about 10 metres from where Rene lived, residents demanded that cops allow him to explain his actions.
Captain FC Van Wyk said 1 000 residents attempted to attack the suspect, during which a police officer was injured and four vehicles damaged.
Soon after that, rival gangs seized the opportunity to settle old scores by pelting cops with stones.
Police responded with rubber bullets, stun grenades and teargas.
“During this volatile situation, police investigators had to suspend their crime scene investigation. Community members are warned to allow the police to do their work. Taking the law into their hands is an offence, punishable by law,” Van Wyk said.
Roads into St Agatha Street were barricaded with burning tyres and rubble from 11am until late yesterday.
The suspect made a brief appearance in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court yesterday afternoon, where he was charged with murder.
He will appear in court again on April 7 for bail.
Neighbours of the accused claim Plaatjies was known in the community as a “paedophile” as he would often “keep him j**” with young girls, and even paid children to speak to him.
Rene was said to have regularly gone to him to get movies, and he sent her on errands.
One woman says: “She was such a lovely child. Daai ding moet vrek! He is a pervert. He gives small children money to speak to him. He touches young girls and flirts with them.”
Heartbroken father Eugene says Plaatjies even helped search for Rene.
“He was at every vigil in honour of Rene, every search. Hy het saam gesoek,” he says.
But the dad says he became suspicious when Plaatjies refused to have his house searched last Tuesday, telling police to come back with a search warrant.
“Everyone’s houses were searched, but he didn’t want police to enter his place. We were angry and we thought it was strange, but we never thought it could be him,” says Eugene.
Another red flag was raised when Plaatjies insisted that he, Eugene, was the last to be seen with Rene.
“I was thinking why he is trying to blame me? We would have found her sooner, even if she was dead already, if they listened to me,” he says.
“When they found her, she had no hair. He cut all her hair off so her body could not be identified,” Eugene says, shaking his head in disbelief.
Director of NGO Philisa Abafazi Bethu (Heal our Women), Lucinda Evans, told the Cape Times she took Rene’s parents out during the morning, and they arrived in the midst of the protest action.
Eugene says Rene’s mother, Chrissandre, was in total shock.
Chrissandre was apparently present when her child’s body was discovered, but asked for privacy.
“I don’t know how I am feeling,” she said yesterday, as she told kids to keep safe when police were firing rubber bullets.
Eugene says he is just glad his daughter was found, because “not knowing what happened to her would have destroyed us”.