A Cape Town man on Monday admitted to beheading a Ravensmead teenager in 2013 so he could sell the body parts to a sangoma.
Aljar Swartz changed his plea to guilty in the Western Cape High Court. His lawyer Sheriff Mohamed read out various admissions.
Swartz admitted that he strangled 15-year-old Lee Adams at Florida Primary School in Ravensmead, on October 17, 2013. He then stabbed him numerous times until he succumbed to his wounds.
"Thereafter I decapitated him," he stated in the document handed in at court.
"Although I consumed alcohol and dagga during the day of the 17th of October 2013, I could still appreciate the wrongfulness of my conduct. I was a follower of Satan at the time."
He admitted that he inflicted the gruesome injuries noted in the post mortem report.
A pathologist had concluded that Adams died due to sharp force trauma to the neck. Stab wounds, bruises, and abrasions were found on his face and neck.
A security guard found the boy’s body at the school. The head was later found in a shallow grave in the accused’s yard.
Adams’ family members listened to proceedings from the benches in the public gallery, behind Swartz.
The accused, dressed in a tracksuit, seemed relaxed in the dock. He acknowledged that he intentionally incited, instigated, persuaded and encouraged four men to lure a victim to Ravensmead to be killed for body parts.
His confessions came after the State called a number of witnesses, including a fingerprint expert who linked him to the crime.
Swartz admitted that a fingerprint found in a blood stain on the wall at the crime scene belonged to him.
He also put a tissue paper containing Adams’ blood into a bin in his bedroom.
The case was postponed until March 2 for sentencing arguments.
Source: News24
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