Sex, lies and a killer

27 May 2015 - 02:23 By Philani Nombembe

Slain Stellenbosch doctor Louis Heyns's family is vindicated after the Cape Town High Court yesterday dismissed his killer Marthinus van der Walt's claims that the paediatrician solicited sex from him before his death. Van der Walt made the claim in the court this month. Heyns's body was found in a shallow grave in Strand in May 2013.Van der Walt and his brother, Sarel, were arrested for the murder. Sarel was sentenced to seven years after he entered into an agreement with the State.Marthinus van der Walt claimed that the paediatrician asked him for sex and attacked him after insulting him. He said Heyns told him: "You expect me to pay you but your penis will not even get hard."Van der Walt said he was high on drugs and alcohol at the time. The post-mortem examination showed that Heyns died from blunt trauma to the head, chest and abdomen, and strangulation.Heyns had been working at Tygerberg Hospital for 31 years and taught at Stellenbosch University's medicine faculty.Judge Andre le Grange dismissed Van der Walt's defence yesterday and convicted him of murder and robbery. Judge le Grange said Van der Walt's version that Heyns had solicited sex from him his was improbable.Heyns' brother-in-law, André Mouton, said the family was happy with the conviction. Mouton dismissed Van der Walt's sex claims as a "desperate attempt".One of Heyns's former colleagues, Dr Sharon Kling, also testified in aggravation of sentence, saying Heyns's death had left a "massive void in paediatrics in South Africa"."Louis's skills were legendary and many doctors called for his help when they could not get up a difficult drip or insert an endotracheal breathing tube into a child," said Kling."In fact, his last afternoon in the ICU was spent putting up a special venous line that no one else could manage to insert in a very ill baby."Sentencing has been set down for tomorrow...

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