Andrew Plaatjies has been handed two life sentences for the murder of Rene-Tracey Roman.
Plaatjies was sentenced in the Western Cape High Court on Monday August 20 for the attempted rape and murder of the St Montague Village teenager in March last year.
Rene-Tracey’s body was found in the yard of Plaatjies’ girlfriend who lived two houses from the Roman family home in St Agatha Crescent.
Her decomposed body was found wrapped in a carpet almost two weeks after she went missing. Her hands and feet were bound.
The trial, which was scheduled to take place over four days, was over in two hours.
JudgeRobertHenney described Plaatjies as a coward who had intentionally prepared to rape the girl.
Community activist Lucinda Evans said the sentencing is bitter-sweet.
“We are very relieved but it is bitter-sweet. We heard everything he did to Rene and
that was a big shock and it was very painful,” said Ms Evans.
Plaatjies’ lawyer read out an admission stating he put a plastic bag over Rene-Tracey’s head, hit her on the head with the back of an axe to “neutralise” her while attempting to rape her.
Ms Evans thanked the state prosecutor and Judge Henney for giving the “just sentencing”.
“More than that we could not have asked for because that monster will be in prison for the rest of his life and won’t be able to hurt any other children,” said Ms Evans.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila ,welcomed the sentence.
“It’s a sentence that fits the gruesome crime committed by a man in his 50s against a 13-year-old girl. She trusted him and he betrayed that trust. It’s a sentence we hope will
send a strong and clear message that the abuse of women and children cannot be tolerated. It cannot be business as usual as the numbers keep on climbing,” said Mr Ntabazalila.
He added that the NPA is even more pleased that the eight years of attempted rape was changed to life im-
prisonment which signals the seriousness with which the NPA views these cases.