'Charming' Capetonian who chopped up his neighbour sentenced to life in jail

A drug addict who stalked and fatally stabbed his neighbour at an apartment building in Bellville, Cape Town, before dismembering and stashing her remains in black refuse bags, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lynette Volschenk, 32, was found dead at her flat in August 2019 after colleagues went to check on her because she did not arrive for work as usual.

Kyle Ruiters, who described himself as a “charming psychopath”, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder, 15 years' imprisonment for violating her corpse and five years for attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

Judge Robert Henney said Ruiters, now 28, poses a danger to society and is at high risk of committing offences again if he were released back into society.

He had been referred to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital after his arrest which produced a report stating he has “definite psychopathic traits”.

During the trial, Ruiters told the court he was an extensive drug user and owed his dealer R30,000. The drug dealer threatened him with severe consequences if he did not pay. He formulated a plan to murder someone to take their valuable items, sell them and settle the debt.

He initially researched various possible victims, taking notes and making videos of their movements to and from their homes, places of work and any incidental places they frequented. He also tracked their social media activities.

He did the same with Volschenk and made notes of his intention to kill her. He even drafted a message for her family and friends in case they came looking for her, but he did not post the message. It was found on his phone.

After killing her, he dismembered her body and disposed of some of her remains along Jip de Jager Drive, Bellville.

The victim's colleagues panicked after she did not show up at work, and found the accused inside her flat wearing yellow gloves and attempting to clean blood stains. He lied to them saying she employed him to clean her flat.

He misled the police and took them to Jack Miller Park, Frans Conradie Road, Bellville, where he claimed he disposed of the head, though he knew he had dumped it in the bushes near Jip de Jager Road. This constituted the attempt to defeat the administration of justice charge.

NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said judge Henney ordered the registrar of the court to submit a copy of the sentence to the provincial commissioner of correctional services accompanied by the report of the panel of psychiatrists and psychologists, the victim impact report from Volschenk's sister, together with the warrant of committal to prison of the accused.

He also ordered that a copy of the indictment, the guilty plea statement, the postmortem report and the photographs of the crime scene be attached to the warrant of committal, which would form part of the accused’s prisoner profile for consideration by the prison authorities in their further conduct and management of the accused as a prisoner.

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