The next witness on the witness stand was Hannelie Scheepers, the former wife of Marcel and Le Roux’s father.
She told the court that Marinda (Marcel and Le Roux’s mother) and the children’s father had intense fights all the time.
They would fight about insufficient maintenance being paid, or when the children did not arrive home on time after visiting their dad.
Read part one of Pre-Sentencing:
#KrugersdorpMurders – Pre-sentencing starts with social worker’s testimony
“I recall one occasion when we went to fetch the children. When we got there, Marinda came out with the children and she and my husband immediately started fighting,” Scheepers explained. She told the court that she took the children for a walk because they were visibly distraught.
After that incident she would fetch the children from Miranda without her husband. Miranda told her that her ex-husband used to sleep around and that she only married him to have his children because he physically met her criteria.
After some time the children started telling them about the new religious group they had joined and how they were helping Satanists.
Part two of Pre-Sentencing:
#KrugersdorpMurders – Cecilia Steyn says judge should call on God to testify
With this came their weird behaviour. They told her that Miranda had burned all their pictures because demons could come through them. Le Roux was told to give away his toy soldiers because they were earthly possessions that could take them away from God.
“All of a sudden they were not allowed to watch TV, or read certain books, or watch certain movies,” she said.
She explained how Miranda made it difficult for them to see the children and they always had to be home before church.
She told the court that in 2008, the children went to the coast with her mother and brother. They bought the children new clothes to take along, but her mother told her that Marcel had thrown away the items because she was not allowed to wear certain brands or certain colours.
On their way to take the children back, they had car trouble and Marinda got very mad. After they had dropped off the children, Scheepers received a call on the number that only family, and Miranda and the kids had. The woman told her that she was in a relationship with her husband, but Scheepers did not believe her.
“This made me think that she was now targeting our marriage.”
Eventually their father said that he had had enough and that the kids needed to stay with Marinda.
“We never saw them after that,” she said.
Scheepers described Marcel as a well-mannered and beautiful child who loved to play with dolls and prepare food.
She explained that Marcel believed that her father had abandoned them.
At the end of 2018 she decided to make contact with the Steyn children again. She saw them twice a week. When Marcel heard the truth, she was confused.
“At church they were told not to lie, but now her mother was lying to her and was taking away an opportunity from her to live with her father. If she had lived with him, none of this would have happened. I would love to give Marcel the opportunity to live without fear – just to live her life,” she said.
