Fifteen years and more than 115 court postponements later, yet another accused in the murder case of Cytheria Rex has died.
Last week, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the case had been postponed, delaying the trial for a further seven months.
Virgil Sass, Oswill Grootboom, Imeraan Hendricks, Lee Cloete, Rhonwen Rhode and Keenan Lewis have been charged with her murder in the Blue Down’s Regional Court.
But Ntabazalila confirmed that Lewis had passed away.
A second accused, Warren Robertson, died in May 2017 after he was shot and killed.
It is unclear what the cause of death was for Lewis.
In addition, one of the accused was yet to appoint a new lawyer, Ntabazalila said.
“The case against Virgil Sass and others has once again been postponed until September 25 and 26 for further particulars to be provided to a new Legal Aid representative of one of the accused,” he explained.
“The court has also been advised that one of the accused, Keenan Lewis, has passed away.
“A death certificate confirming this was provided to the court,” Ntabazalila said.
Cytheria’s mother, Jacqueline Rex, says she’s moeg of all the delays.
“I have heard this case will be moved to another court, but we have received no feedback even on the new court cases or that one of them has died,” the mom said.
In a report compiled by the NPA last year it was said that the majority of postponements were due to bail applications, accused absenteeism, prosecutor absenteeism and the changing of legal representatives.
Cytheria, 17, was raped and stabbed more than 40 times in 2009 before her body was forced into a wheelie bin and dumped on a field in Kraaifontein.