Christmas in jail as Sunday rapist case postponed

13 December 2011 - 12:50 By Sapa
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Shireen de Waal, mother of the murdered Louise, is comforted by one of her sons, Justin, at the memorial service for Louise at her school in Roodepoort. File photo.
Shireen de Waal, mother of the murdered Louise, is comforted by one of her sons, Justin, at the memorial service for Louise at her school in Roodepoort. File photo.

The man accused of killing Roodepoort schoolgirl Louise de Waal will spend Christmas behind bars, the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court hears.

The case against Johannes Jacobus Steyn was postponed to February 1 next year. Magistrate Keith Page ordered that the toxicology and DNA report be completed or made available by then.

The court heard that it was difficult to complete the post mortem report without the toxicology report.

In court, De Waal's distraught mother shouted at Steyn saying: "You can look at me. It was my daughter." Some De Waal family members present in court were wearing black.

Outraged community members were also in court in support of the De Waal family.

Steyn faces 13 charges of rape, 10 of kidnapping, one of murder and six of sexual assault.

He allegedly abducted De Waal in Roodepoort in October just before her 17th birthday. A burnt body, believed to be hers, was found on a farm in Magaliesburg later the same day.

Her family identified the body through the jewellery on the body but DNA results have not yet been released to confirm this.

Steyn handed himself over to KwaZulu Natal authorities the day after the body was found.

He is accused of raping a number of girls in Gauteng and the North West,mostly on Sundays.

Two cases of kidnapping he allegedly committed in Rustenburg and Potchefstroom will also be heard in the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court.

This was after the State applied for all cases against him to be centralised.

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