One of the men convicted of killing well-known Afrikaans writer Winnie Rust at Wellington in the Boland two years ago, has maintained in the Cape Town High Court that he was not present when the crime was committed.
Thirty-seven-year-old Johannes Plaatjies and his 20-year-old nephew Nigel Plaatjies were convicted in December 2017 of murdering Rust in her home in May 2016.
While testifying in mitigation of sentence on Wednesday, Johannes also apologised to the Rust family, saying he felt the loss and pain with them.
Johannes told Rust’s family that he feels heartbroken because of what happened to her.
Plaatjies says he was not present during the crime and only met up with his nephew when they went on a shopping spree in Paarl after her murder.
He says Nigel told him he got the money from the sale of a bicycle Rust had given him. But the state read out letters which Johannes had written to Nigel after their arrest.
In it, Johannes instructs Nigel to accept full responsibility for the crime on his own. He also threatened to turn state witness and put Nigel away, if he did not go along with the plan.
The state also read out cellphone correspondence between the two accused before and after Rust’s murder, which indicated that Johannes was indeed involved in the murder.
The case has been postponed to the 27th of February for further arguments.
