During the last part of the testimony by Hannelie Scheepers (Marcel and Le Roux Steyn’s stepmother), State Prosecutor Gerrit Roberts asked her if, during 2003 and 2008, anything about the children’s upbringing had bothered either her or their father.
She said that her son got along well with the two Steyn children and neither she nor her ex-husband had any concerns.
Read part one of Pre-Sentencing:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/387160/krugersdorpmurders-pre-sentencing-starts-with-social-workers-testimony/
“The religion they started to follow was strange to us, but we accepted it,” Scheepers explained.
She said that her ex-husband was not allowed to discipline the children as Marinda, their mother, was the disciplinarian.
Photo: Bianca Pindral.
“When I asked my son if they ever watched TV behind our backs, he said they had asked him to switch channels whenever there was something on TV that they were not allowed to watch, such as the Harry Potter and Stardust movies.”
“It did concern us when their behaviour started to change. Suddenly they were giving away their toys and were not watching TV, but as far as I know, my ex-husband never questioned Marinda about it,” Scheepers explained when asked if these changes did not bother her or her husband.
Read part two of Pre-Sentencing:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/387173/krugersdorpmurders-cecilia-steyn-says-judge-call-god-testify/
She admitted that after her husband had told Marinda that he had had enough and she could take the children, they did not see them again. She did try to explain the situation to Marinda once, but Marinda told her that she had spoken to the children about it and about their father’s past, and they had decided that they did not want to see him again.
She said it was true that he did not want to see the children and that is why they believed it. Afterwards he did not try to make contact with them again.
When asked if she decided to reach out to the children after reading about the case, Scheepers said, “No, everybody advised me to stay away, they said they were dangerous people. I never really followed everything that happened in court, I only saw glimpses. I then decided to reach out because I felt the need to do so.”
She first made contact with Le Roux and asked one of his friends to speak to Marcel and ask if she would be willing to meet with Scheepers.
Read part three of Pre-Sentencing:
https://www.citizen.co.za/krugersdorp-news/387177/krugersdorpmurders-steyn-childrens-stepmother-testifies/
“She came back with the news that I could visit Marcel. At first things between us were awkward but we have grown quite fond of each other.”
She said when she saw the case on the news, she said to her husband that Marinda had succeeded in ruining the children’s lives.
While talking to Marcel and even Marinda, Scheepers said they never discussed the case. She said she did not want to know about any of it. She did ask Marinda why she and her ex-husband were not targeted, to which Marinda allegedly replied that they were not on the ‘list’, and that she only killed bad people.
Scheepers believes that by telling the truth, Marcel showed remorse.
