Two skollies who robbed and killed a 68-year-old Kraaifontein oupa before dumping his body in the Philippi farmlands have been sentenced to life behind bars.
Lorenzo Erasmus and Ziyaad Jassiem of the Fancy Boys gang returned to the Wynberg Regional Court on Tuesday where they were found guilty and sentenced after entering into a plea deal.
The duo made shocking revelations about the circumstances that led to the death of Hendrick de Kock, whose body was found dumped on a sandbank in April 2022.
According to court documents, the duo, who were busted by Lieutenant-Colonel Gavin Sias of Philippi Police Station, admitted to bashing the oupa over the head with a hammer, suffocating him with a plastic bag and strangling him.
In his plea statement, Erasmus says on 11 April 2022, he spotted De Kock at a house in Philippi and hatched a plan to rob him.
Along with Jassiem, they attacked him with a hammer and took the keys of his VW Polo.
The plea statement reads: “The accused and his co-accused then strangled the deceased with a rope after putting a piece of cloth in the mouth of the deceased.”
The duo then placed the oupa in the boot of his car and went to dump his body.
They wanted to sell the car for R5 000, but only managed to get R1 500 for it and made arrangements to collect the outstanding balance from the buyer at a later stage.
They were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, 15 years for robbery and five years for defeating the ends of justice.
The court ordered that the sentences run concurrently and they will each serve an effective 25 years behind bars.
De Kock’s family welcomed the sentences.A 69-year-old relative, who asked not to be named, says: “We are happy with the outcome and very thankful to the detective for all his hard work.
“On the day Hendrick went missing, we had no idea how they got him or where he went, but when he did not arrive home, we went to Kraaifontein SAPS to report him missing.
“We are happy that justice was served and want people to know you cannot just take a life and dump someone’s body.”