“People like him should get the death penalty, they don’t deserve to live.”
These are the words of mom Beatrice Adams as she prepares for the one-year commemoration of the death of her 12-year-old daughter Michaela Williams.
She was speaking to the Daily Voice as the community of New Horizons prepares to host a memorial for the slain meisie who was kidnapped, killed and raped on 7 January 2020.
Michaela was playing outside when she vanished around 7pm on the fateful day.
Her mom went to the police to report her missing 30 minutes later and it is alleged that while Beatrice was looking for her child, the suspect, Steven Fortune, had taken her to a vacant plot along 9th Avenue in Schaapkraal.
The accused allegedly killed the schoolgirl by bashing her head with two concrete blocks and then tied her hands with her own vest before raping her.
Fortune had previously been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for the rape and attempted murder of an eight-year-old girl.
After Michaela’s death, Fortune was arrested by Grassy Park police and he later confessed to his crimes at the Western Cape High Court.
“Emotionally we are not coping, it still feels like yesterday,” Beatrice says.
“Her younger sister keeps looking at pictures of Michaela, asking where her sister is because Michaela did everything for her.
“With the neighbourhood watch we are planning a memorial at our house on Saturday and they asked me to speak, but I told them I can’t. I am just trying to pull myself together.”
In December, Fortune appeared at the Western Cape High Court where he admitted to rape and murder.
In his statement, he confessed to telling Michaela that he would buy her a chocolate cake if she walked with him.
The girl then tried to run away from him, but he grabbed her and took her to the vacant plot where he choked her until she passed out and then he raped her repeatedly.
Beatrice says she was happy with the work of cops assigned to the case, and who have continued to support her over the past year.
Grassy Park station commander, Colonel Dawood Laing, says many officers were traumatised after attending the crime scene where Michaela’s lifeless body was found.
“It was a gruesome scene. He left her there like she was an animal. Until today this case still haunts many officers,” he says.
“We are watching the case closely and we are hoping he gets a double life sentence.”
Fortune will return to court on 29 January where he is expected to be sentenced.
Beatrice adds: “Over Christmas I had to watch children in his family walk in the street with their new Christmas clothes and my child could not celebrate Christmas.
“His apology doesn’t even raak me. He showed no remorse. People like him should get the death penalty, they don’t deserve to live,” she says.