Brits secretary shooter’s sentencing delayed

The trial of a former Brits schoolboy – who admitted to stealing his father’s firearm and using it to kidnap a secretary at his school and shooting her twice in the head – has been delayed.

Judge Bert Bam yesterday postponed the trial until May, because a pre-sentencing report had not yet been prepared.

The accused will remain in custody pending sentencing.

The young man was last month convicted on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, theft and the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition after he admitted guilt to all the charges.

The trial of his 17-year-old co-accused, who has denied guilt, will proceed separately in June.

The 18-year-old, who was a pupil at the Rabboni Christian School in Brits, said in his plea explanation he had stolen his father’s pistol from the safe, put it in his school bag and then took it to school on November 22, 2016.

He and his co-accused had agreed the previous day that they needed a car to drive around in, and decided to take the school secretary Hester (Esbé) Koster’s car.

On arrival at the school, he showed the pistol to the other youth. They went to the sports ground to check how many live rounds were in the magazine and borrowed grey masking tape before going back to class.

When school was out, they waited for Koster, 55, next to her car and asked her for a lift to town. He was sitting in the back with the other youth in front and along the way pointed the firearm at Koster and told her to drive to a secluded spot.

Near the main road of Letlhabile, he told Koster to stop and get out. The other youth was tying her up with the masking tape but she was resisting.

“She then tried to take the firearm from my hands, and I shot her on the head twice, picked up the cartridges from the ground and left her there,” he said.

The student admitted that his intention had been to kill Koster and that he had robbed her of her car and laptop.

“I am sincerely remorseful of my actions and beg for forgiveness from the court, the deceased’s family and the community,” he said.

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