Seventeen years without justice for Cytheria
Cytheria Rex was raped and brutally murdered.
Image: file
The mother of murdered 17-year-old Cytheria Rex said she has been left in shock as a magistrate has yet to be appointed to conduct the sentencing, 17 years after the brutal rape and killing.
MP Nicholas Gotsell, DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice, is calling on the Judge President to intervene after previously writing to the Minister of Mmamoloko Kubayi, asking why Rex’s case was not prioritised.
In response to Gotsell, the Minister said via a parliamentary question that the main reason for the delay was due to the accused and systematic reasons, relating to lawyers and judicare, magistrates' absenteeism, witnesses, and typed court records.
Emailed queries to the Minister’s office went unanswered by late yesterday.
Next month, February 21, marks the 17th anniversary of Cytheria’s 2009 Kraaifontein murder.
On Monday, Virgil Sass, Oswill Grootboom, Imeraan Hendricks, Lee Cloete, and Rhonwen Rhode, who were convicted of Cytheria’s murder in November 2024, heard that there was no magistrate appointed as yet to preside over the sentencing. Two of the accused have since died.
The case has been transferred between two courthouses, Blue Downs Regional Court and Strand Regional Court, to accommodate the previous magistrate, Deon van der Spuy, who had fallen ill last year and was unable to continue with the case - which is believed to be the longest-running trial in South Africa.
This week, Eric Ntabazalila, Regional Communications for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), confirmed the delay: "Please note that the matter has been postponed until August 26 to appoint a magistrate in terms of Section 275 to do the sentencing.”
Cytheria’s mother, Jacqueline Rex, was left speechless: “I am in too much shock; I need to absorb this.”
Gotsell called on the Judge President to intervene.
"The delays in driving this matter to a conclusion have been nothing short of a travesty of justice; for the victim and her family, but also for women and children - vulnerable members of our society,” he told Cape Argus.
“If the NPA and the Department of Justice cannot drive a simple matter such as to conclusion in ten months’ time, how can we expect them to deliver justice timeously for victims like Cytheria at all? The DA appeals to the Judge-President of the Western Cape to urgently investigate these matters and the reasons for the severe delays in outcomes and what appears to be caseload mismanagement."
The Mitchells Plain United Residents Association (MURA), who has been supporting Jacqueline, also called for the case to be finalised: “Families of victims are prevented from finding closure, and this is an indication of bad management within the courts. The MPCPF urges the courts to urgently finalise this matter.”
Cytheria was stabbed more than 30 times.
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