Cape Town - South African self-proclaimed serial killer Kyle Ruiters has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa.
Ruiters who calls himself a charming psychopath and a smart serial killer, was given the sentence by Judge Robert Henney, who argued that declaring him a dangerous criminal would mean awarding him a lesser sentence.
Ruiters, 28, was convicted of the premeditated murder of 32-year-old Lynette Volschenk, violating her corpse and attempting to defeat the administration of justice.
According to the NPA, Ruiters was found to have extensively researched several possible victims, taking notes, and making videos of their movements.
He was found to have tracked and monitored his prospective victims’ social media activities, as he did with Volschenk, making notes of his intention to kill her.
The NPA said Ruiters even drafted a message for Volschenk’s family and friends in case they came looking for her, but did not post the message choosing to store it on his phone instead.
After killing her, he dismembered her body into parts and disposed of some 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.
NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Ruiters then lied to the group of colleagues, saying that Volschenk had 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 although he knew that he dumped it in the bushes near Jip de Jager Road, Bellville.
“This constituted the attempt to defeat the administration of justice charge.
“Due to the gruesome nature of the premeditated murder he committed and the cruel way in which he dealt with the deceased’s body, the State referred the accused to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital in terms of Section 79(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act after his arrest,” Ntabazalila said
Ntabazalila said that Ruiters’ psychiatric report revealed that he was not mentally ill, but had definite psychopathic traits.
“The report recommended that should he be convicted the court should be cautious whether he be declared a danger to the physical and mental well-being of others as envisaged in Section 286A of the Criminal Procedure Act,” Ntabazalila said.
Deputy Director, advocate Louise Freister-Sampson, and State advocate Rene Uys gave the court a report, called an expert witness from Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital, and argued that the accused was a dangerous criminal.
In his guilty plea, Reuters told the court that he was an extensive drug user and owed his drug dealer R30 000. He said 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.
However, according to the NPA, Judge Henney said that he found that the substantial and compelling circumstances presented by the accused paled into insignificance if one had regard to the total circumstances of the case.
“Judge Henney said on the totality of the evidence that the accused is a dangerous criminal, who poses a danger to society and women in society. He was certain the accused would commit offences again if he were released back into society,” Ntabazalila said.
Judge Henney sentenced Ruiters to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder, 15 years’ imprisonment for violating the corpse and 5 years’ imprisonment for the attempt to defeat the ends of justice. Reuters was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Nicolette Bell welcomed the sentence and said it came during a month when the country is amid another effort to reduce the scourge of violence against women and children.