The wheels of justice nogal turned this week, ne?
Maties student Hannah Cornelius’ killers were found guilty.
Jason Rohde was convicted for the murder of his wife Susan.
But the judgement day everyone was waiting for was that of Mortimer Saunders.
The 41-year-old was found guilty of not only murder but the rape of his landlord’s child, Courtney Pieters.
While there was an outpouring of joy and relief at the judgement, the conclusion to the sensational trial left one somewhat unsatisfied.
That’s usually the case when the guilty party fails to testify and explain their actions to the victims’ families and the public.
In the Rohde case, we learnt that Jason had been jolling around, which led to regular altercations with his wife and ultimately, her staged suicide at Spier.
In the Cornelius murder, young, pretty Hannah fell victim to a violent, drug-fuelled robbery spree in which four men robbed her, raped her and stabbed her to death.
But Saunders? In his written statement, his explanation said that the three-year-old girl had been disturbing him in his room.
It also emerged he had wanted to get back at the child’s mother, Juanita.
What for, is not clear.
This was the reason, according to Saunders, why he fed her ant poison, choked her and molested her dead body (the judge, however, rejected this and found that he had raped the child while she was alive).
His explanation simply wasn’t good enough.
What we really wanted to know was: what makes a seemingly respectable 40-year-old man commit such evil and unspeakable acts on an innocent toddler.
The bad news is Saunders will take this truth to prison with him and we’ll never really know.
But the good news is the sick vark will probably never see the light of day again.