On August 5, the Mpumalanga High Court sentenced Shaun Oosthuizen (41) to an additional life imprisonment plus 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
On July 8, 2018, the accused travelled from Gauteng to Nelspruit, where he went to the Macadamia Old Age Home to rob and kill Henrietta Catharina Potgieter (85).
He was arrested and later released on bail after his persistent applications.
While he was out on bail, the accused further committed another murder of an elderly resident, Barbara Esme Fenton (74), by strangling her to death on September 1, 2018, at her home in Alberton.
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The Hawks’ investigation led to the arrest of Oosthuizen immediately after the incident and he was further linked to another murder that occurred on June 24, 2018, where Engela van Wyk was robbed and killed at Rus n Bietjie Old Age Home in Springs.
Oosthuizen was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for van Wyk’s murder and 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
In December 2019, Oosthuizen was sentenced to another life imprisonment for Fenton’s death and 20 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
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He will serve a total of three life sentences for killing three elderly women and 50 years for robbing them.
The provincial head for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation in Mpumalanga, Maj-Gen Zodwa Mokoena, applauded the investigating team for securing life sentences.
“We appreciate the collaboration between the investigators and judiciary for ensuring the heartless criminal who tormented the elderly who could not fight for themselves is removed from the community,” she said.
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