Jacobus Eksteen formally confessed to killing Stellenbosch University student Erin van Rensburg.
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The man accused of murdering Stellenbosch University student Erin van Rensburg formally confessed to the killing on Monday and was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.
Jacobus Eksteen appeared before Judge President John Hlophe in the Western Cape High Court where he was convicted, in terms of a plea and sentence agreement, of kidnapping, rape and murder.
Eksteen said he raped and killed Van Rensburg because she allowed him to kiss her and then, after he declared his love for her, she gave him the cold shoulder.
His view was that someone who did something wrong should be punished.
Eksteen said he was in his final year of study at the same university and was friends with Van Rensburg’s brother, Byron, with whom she shared a flat.
At a party in Stellenbosch in August 2008 she flirted with him and they kissed.
He later told her how he felt but she wasn’t ready for a relationship. She told him he was “nice” but that she had no feelings for him. She no longer wanted to talk to him, even though he had tried to fix things.
He still couldn’t stop thinking about her and said he saw her as a potential wife and someone who could have his children.
He struggled to study for the November exams and contacted her to arrange a meeting.
She agreed but later changed her mind, saying there was nothing to talk about.
Eksteen only passed four subjects and blamed her for this and the effect it would have on his academic career. He believed her actions were deliberate and that she gave him attention but later jilted him, thereby hurting him.
He also believed it was her fault that his chances of a good job and life were ruined.
Since his life was over, it was fair to end hers too, he argued.
He planned to kidnap her and demand an explanation before he raped and killed her.
He bought two stun guns online because he wanted her to be unconscious when he kidnapped her and took her to his family holiday house in Langebaan. He also bought rope to tie her up, and took a large suitcase so he could put her in it while she was unconscious.
On June 1, 2009, he went to the flat while she was alone. He tried to shock her with a stun gun, but it didn’t render her unconscious. A struggled ensued and she ended up on the floor. Since the stun gun wasn’t working, he hit her in the stomach. Since that didn’t work he choked her until she lost consciousness, and put a sock in her mouth.
He undressed her so he could see what she looked like naked. He raped her and later realised she had died. He drove to Elands Bay on the West Coast and buried her.
In the agreement, he admitted that his actions were wrong. - The Argus
fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za