Court orders seizure of vehicle linked to the brutal murder of 13-year-old Jerobejin van Wyk

IOL News

a day ago

Daniel Smit's vehicle has been seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
Child murderer and self-confessed cultist Daniel Smit's bakkie, which was used to kidnap and in the commission of the crime that led to the brutal murder of 13-year-old Jerobejin van Wyk, has been seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU).
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said they welcomed the order, which was made following the application for the preservation and forfeiture of the vehicle.
Smit had used the vehicle to pursue Jerobijn, knocked him over, and kidnapped him before brutally murdering him.
Ntabazalila said the vehicle was an instrumentality of the offences of which Smit was convicted of and sentenced on November 5, last year. Smit is currently serving his life imprisonment sentence.
The AFU is governed by the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (POCA). POCA provides for two types of civil forfeiture mechanisms - in terms of Chapter 5, which is a criminal forfeiture and is dependent on a conviction, and in terms of Chapter 6, which is a civil forfeiture and is not dependent on a conviction.
In this application, the unit utilised Chapter 6 and applied for a preservation order in terms of Section 38 of POCA.
Jerobejin van Wyk was murdered in February 2022 after he was caught picking mangoes with a friend.
Image: Supplied
Ntabazalila said: 'During the criminal trial, the AFU successfully applied for a preservation order, and Judge Hayley Slingers, who presided over the trial, granted it on 19 March. In its application, the unit argued that Smit used the vehicle to pursue the deceased, knock him over, kidnap, and murder him, and that it was an instrumentality of the offences listed in items 1,3 and 7 of Schedule 1 of POCA, that being murder, kidnapping, assault, and child stealing. In terms of Section 40 of POCA, AFU had 90 days to file a forfeiture application, failing which the preservation order would lapse,' said Ntabazalila.
On Thursday, August 31, Judge James Dumisani Lekhuleni granted the unopposed forfeiture order.
The application was served on the accused in prison on April 10, confirmed Ntabazalila.
In November last year, Smit was sentenced to an effective life imprisonment following his conviction on attempted murder, kidnapping, murder of Jerobejin, violation of his corpse, and defeating the administration of justice.
During trial, child killer and self-confessed cultist provided a graphic plea explanation describing how he broke the child's neck and placed him in a freezer.
Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
The court ordered that Smit must serve two-thirds of his sentence before he could be considered eligible for parole.
During trial, the court heard that on February 2, 2022, Jerobejin and his friend entered the accused's property in Matzikama Street, Klawer, and stole fruit from his garden.
He claimed he became angry as the two boys mocked him when he spoke to them.
'After pursuing them with his vehicle and catching Van Wyk, he took the boy home, broke his neck, put his body in the freezer, and later dismembered it. He burnt it using tricks he claimed he learnt from a Chinese occult he joined when he was a teenager. He also claimed the occult had an influence on him and used that mitigation of sentence, as well as diminished responsibility. He asked the court to sentence him to 30 years of direct imprisonment,' said Ntabazalila.
During the trial, the court heard how Smit had violated Jerobejin's corpse when he dismembered him and burnt parts of the corpse in a fire with tar poles. He disposed of other body parts in a drain on his property.
Also during trial, the prosecutor, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions advocate Louise Freister-Sampson, dismissed his claim of influence by an occult, highlighting that he had not been active in the occult for more than 20 years, had not performed rituals for more than 20 years, converted to Christianity and had the Aramaic words of God painted on his house's walls and his vehicle.
Ntabazalila said: 'This forfeiture forms part of the NPA's broader strategy to ensure that crime does not pay, by targeting not only the perpetrators but also the tools and proceeds of criminal conduct.'
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