Cape Town - As the murder trial of Cytheria Rex draws close to 16 years of being on the court roll, the National Prosecuting Authority has confirmed judgement will finally commence in November.
This is a victory for the family of Cytheria who have been waiting for more than a decade for justice and brings hope of a conclusion in the matter.
Virgil Sass, Oswill Grootboom, Imeraan Hendricks, Lee Cloete, Rhonwen Rhode are making appearances at the Blue Down’s Regional Court, and all of the accused are out on bail.
Earlier this year, the NPA confirmed that the accused, Keenan Lewis had passed away. A second accused, Warren Robertson, died in May 2017 after he was shot and killed. It is unclear what the cause of death was for Lewis.
Eric Ntabazalila of the NPA told Weekend Argus they too hope for finality for the family of the 19-year-old victim. The matter has since been postponed for more than 115 times since its entry to the court roll in 2009.
“I can confirm that the matter has been postponed until 29 November 2024 for judgement at the same court,” he explained.
“All the accused in this case were arrested on February 22 2009. The State successfully opposed bail against all accused and they remanded in custody until the investigation was completed.
“The case was then transferred to the Blue Downs Regional Court for the purpose of trial. Since then it’s been postponed a number of times and only twice as a result of the absence of the prosecutor in court.
“On those two occasions the prosecutor was booked off sick. As can be seen on the table below the State has done its best to ensure that the matter runs in the court but circumstances beyond its control led to the postponements.
“We hope that we are getting closer to wrapping up this case to ensure justice and closure for the family of the deceased.”
According to the table shared by Ntabazalila, he illustrated that there had been 53 postponements due to the appointments of defence lawyers, three for the magistrate, seven for further particulars, two for representations, and seven for bail applications.
He said the matter had been postponed 22 times due to the accused being absent, twice for the prosecutor being ill, 21 times for the trial to commence, once due to a Covid-19 case, once for the recording machine, twice after two accused died, one for arguments and once for judgement to be heard.”
The Weekend Argus also approached the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Nicolette Bell on the fact that the trial was on the court roll for nearly 16 years, to which they stated the NPA’s Ntabazalila was best suited to comment.
Cytheria’s aunt, Cathleen van der Merwe said the family have been pushed from one court to the other and were often left frustrated with the postponements: “Cytheria's father and I attended the court case in September, and we were told it was moved to Strand Magistrates' Court. We do not have the funds to travel that far all the time, and then it keeps being postponed
“We will definitely be attending the judgement in November.”
The Weekend Argus also attempted reaching out to Cytheria’s mother, Jacqueline Rex who has been vocal about the matter but she could not be reached.
Siya Monakali of Ilitha Labantu, which advocates for the rights of women and children, said they were concerned with the ongoing delays in the case.
“The case, which has now stretched over 15 years with more than 115 postponements, reflects a significant failure in delivering justice, not only to Cytheria Rex and her family but also to society at large,” he said.
“It is highly concerning when cases like this continue to experience delays of this magnitude. Such delays are not standard procedure and should not be accepted as normal.
“Ilitha Labantu calls for an urgent review of the circumstances surrounding the delays in the Cytheria Rex case. We will continue to support survivors and their families in their pursuit of justice and remain committed to advocating for systemic reforms that prevent such delays in the future.”
Cytheria was raped and stabbed more than 40 times before her body was forced into a wheelie bin and dumped on a field in Kraaifontein in 2009.
It had been Cytheria’s blood which made a trail where she was murdered to where she was dumped, leading police to the doorstep of her alleged killers.