UPDATE: Judgment for man accused of raping and murdering three-year-old
Tuesday sees the start of the three-day judgment of Mortimer Saunders, accused of the rape and murder of Courtney Pieters.
Murder accused Mortimer Saunders enters the Cape Town High Court where he will stand trial for the alleged murder and rape of 3-year-old Courtney Pieters of Elsies River. Picture: Noor Slamdien/African News Agency/ANA
The man who confessed to the murder of three-year-old Courtney Pieters is set to discover his fate over the next three days at the Western Cape High Court.
Judgment in the trial of self-confessed child killer Mortimer Saunders was postponed in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, and is set to resume on Wednesday.
The judgment was postponed last month.
Saunders was arrested in May last year after the body of three-year-old Courtney Pieters was found in Epping Industria, nine days after she was reported missing.
READ MORE: Mortimer Saunders apologises to mother of murdered Courtney Pieters, 3
He confessed to giving the child poison and assaulting her. He was a lodger at her family’s home at the time.
The state has urged the court to impose a harsh sentence and wants Saunders to be convicted of premeditated murder and rape.
Saunders denied raping the girl before she died but has admitted to necrophilia.
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