The South Gauteng High Court was packed fuller than usual on 12 August for the final leg of the Krugersdorp murders trial, during which the last three accused will hear their fate.
On 3 June, Judge Ellem Jacob Francis found Cecilia Steyn, Marcel Steyn and Zak Valentine guilty on a total of 32 counts. The charges include murder, fraud and racketeering.
Read more:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/387038/maandag-krugersdorpmurders-remaining-three-to-learn-their-fate-this-week/
The first witness to take the stand was a social worker from the Department of Social Development in Krugersdorp.
“A request was made to conduct a psycho-social pre-sentencing report,” the witness said.
The report was compiled from various interviews with the 34-year-old Zak Valentine while he was in prison. The witness explained that while talking to Zak’s parents, they said they did not understand why he was pulling away from them. She explained that as far as she had been told, he was raised in a loving stable home. She was told that he was raised in a religious Christian home and that his parents thought their protective upbringing might have made him susceptible to Cecelia.
According to the witness’ report, his parents have vowed to stay with him and support him.
She explained that his parents were and still are shocked that he was implicated in these crimes but they will support him.
Zak said he earned about R70 000 per month, most of which he believed had gone to assist the children from the children’s home.
He alleged that he did not come out with the truth after being told that his murder had been faked, because he was afraid for his family members after what had happened to his wife, Mikeila Valentine, who was murdered after indicating that she wanted to leave the group.
He has requested to serve his sentence at the Sun City prison as it would be easier for his family to assist him there, and he intends to continue with his studies while he is serving his sentence.
When asked to describe himself, he used words like respectful, loyal, self-sacrificing, persistent, giving, gentle, naïve, intelligent and nurturing.
According to the witness, Zak believes that he was framed for the crimes and that someone had to be implicated to bring closure to a very public case.
He also believed the media has had a huge impact on the outcome of the case and has used the case for personal gain.
Read here:
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He allegedly regrets getting involved with the group and his co-accused in the first place.
He still denies any involvement, but also shows no regret according to the witness. He believes you can’t show regret for something you did not do.
The pre-sentencing hearing continues.
