Hetta Potgieter’s murderer sentenced to life, plus 15 years

Shaun Oosthuizen (41), the man who murdered Hetta Potgieter (85) in 2018, was handed a life sentence at Mpumalanga High Court on Thursday.

Along with his life sentence, he received an additional 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The same charges against Maryna Lin Mam (Vorster) and John du Plooy were withdrawn on August 4 due to insufficient evidence.

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During sentencing on Thursday morning, the judge presiding over the matter said it was the court’s duty to send a bold and clear message that there was no room for offenders to commit violent crimes such as Oosthuizen had committed against Potgieter.

“It is clear from the facts of the case that the suspect had no regard for the rights of the victim (Potgieter) and this was indicated by the ruthlessness of the murder. The court condemns this in the strongest possible terms,” said the judge.

She added that Oosthuizen did not appear to show remorse for his crimes and that the only mitigating factor was that he pleaded guilty to the murder, therefore, not wasting the court’s time and saving Potgieter’s family and witnesses from any second-hand trauma resulting from reliving the events.

She said that Oosthuizen had shown unbelievable violence towards a defenceless, elderly woman.

“The accused would have been able to subdue her and she might have complied with his demands, instead he went further by tying her up and putting cloth in her mouth. This was very barbaric.

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“The deceased probably suffered one of the most painful deaths, which is suffocation,” she said.

The judge then proceeded to hand down Oosthuizen’s sentence. The sentences will run concurrently with sentences he has received as a result of other crimes he had been convicted of previously.

Potgieter was found dead in her Macadamia Care Centre apartment on July 2, 2018. Nelspruit police’s Lt Col Erhard Ströh was the investigating officer in the case and arrested Oosthuizen along with two others, Du Plooy (28) and Lin Mam (51) three weeks after Potgieter’s body was found.

Prior to their arrests in 2018, Lowvelder reported that the trio had allegedly targeted Potgieter at Macadamia after having failed to gain access to the nearby SAVF Herfsakker Old Age Home.

Security cameras at the facility recorded the three entering the centre at 12:07. Potgieter was found dead, with her hands tied behind her back, on the bathroom floor.

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Ströh reported at the time that, according to the coroner, Potgieter’s death was caused by suffocation. R10 000 in cash and a house key were stolen.

The Nelspruit SAPS, with the assistance of Bossies Community Justice, pursued a number of leads and the suspects were tracked to a caravan park and campsite near Magaliesburg.

Oosthuizen and Du Plooy were convicted of the murder of an elderly Alberton resident, Barbara Fenton (74), on December 11, 2019. The two were also found guilty of aggravated robbery.

The sentencing took place in the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court. Barbara Esme Fenton (74) was found dead in her home on September 1, 2018, and had been strangled to death.

Oosthuizen received life imprisonment for murder and 25 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. Du Plooy received life imprisonment for murder and 20 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

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• Lowvelder previously reported, in error that a magistrate presided over the matter, when instead, the correct term is judge.