'Seesig Killer', Kyle Ruiters, during his appearance at the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, 9 May 2023, in Cape Town. Photo: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Jaco Marais
Psychiatrist Stacey Lintnaar testified during an inquiry at the Western Cape High Court on Monday that if Seesig killer, Kyle Ruiters, is not declared a dangerous criminal, a long-term or life prison sentence is advised.
The 28-year-old Ruiters pleaded guilty to killing his Bellville neighbour Lynette Volschenk and dismembering her body in the Western Cape High Court on 9 May this year.
On 21 August 2019, Ruiters stabbed to death the 32-year-old Volschenk, who lived upstairs from him at Seesig Flats, in Loevenstein, Bellville. He cut her body up and dumped the parts in bushes around Bellville.
He was convicted on charges of premeditated murder, violating a corpse, and attempting to defeat the administration of justice.
The court granted the State’s application for Ruiters to be held at Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital for a period of mental observation before sentencing.
According to Lintnaar, the convicted killer met nearly all of the criteria for the anti-social personality disorder associated with psychopaths.
He had little regard for the rights of others, and, alarmingly, during the assessment he admitted to stalking another woman when she refused to give him his phone number.
She found him remorseless with no sign of guilt over what he had done.
Lintnaar also raised his stated fascination with serial killers, such as Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer, and told the court of his plan to write a book on serial killers while in prison.
“Right now, I would say, the likelihood of re-offending is very high,” the psychiatrist said.
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Prosecutor Deputy Director Adv Louise Friester argued that Ruiters represents a danger to the physical or mental well-being of other persons and that the community must be protected against him by imposing an appropriate sentence.
“Once he is declared a dangerous criminal, he will spend an indefinite period in prison with his condition assessed after a period to determine his state of mind and whether he is still a danger to society.”
Declaring an individual a dangerous criminal is rarely invoked, but Ruiters showed no remorse for his actions, which was echoed in the results of his psychiatric assessments.
As the presiding Judge Robert Henney pointed out: “In this case, he can’t be released on parole ever. It’s an indeterminate sentence unless he is brought before this court [for a review].”
In his plea statement earlier this year, Ruiters recounted the chilling details of his heinous crime.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, he confessed to being a drug addict who racked up a debt of R30 000 with his dealer.
Ruiters then hatched a plan to kill and rob someone of their valuable items which he could then sell to settle his debt.
The case has been postponed to Wednesday, 15 November for the final argument.
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