Cape Town - Accused murderer and alleged cultist, Daniel Smit, will be admitted to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital for a 30-day evaluation following his court appearance at the Klawer Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Smit was charged with the murder of Jerobejin van Wyk, 13, and faces further charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, defeating the administration of justice and failure to report an accident to the police.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the matter was postponed to June 21 in order for Smit to get a bed at the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital.
At his previous court appearance, a psychologist recommended that Smit be referred for observation and psychiatric evaluation to determine the nature and cause of the crime that Smit committed.
The court had heard that Smit, after he knocked Jerobejin down with his bakkie for allegedly stealing fruit, took the teenager back to his home, where he had given the boy food and something to drink before “breaking his neck”.
According to court documents, Smit had “conducted a pre-planned ritual. He took the corpse, dismembered it, and burn(ed) his body parts in his fireplace, where tar poles provide(d) the needed temperature to burn out the body parts”.
Previously, in a report submitted in court, psychologist CWA van Zyl had told the court he wanted the roles of the personality disorder and specifically psychopathy to be determined.
Van Zyl had said: “He has committed a serious crime before the age of 15, and his whole life is characterised by physical altercations with various people. In my opinion, there are many manifestations of psychopathy, like lack of real feelings, no real remorse, self-justification of actions and lies, disassociation of major events, manipulation, cruelty, etc. It seems that serious psychopathology like schizophrenia, psychotic episodes are not a problem, although these conditions need to be assessed by the psychiatric team.
“I recommend that he need to be referred to a relevant psychiatric hospital to be assessed for the scientific reasons for his horrific act, which has caused a major uproar in the local community, nationally and even internationally, the psychologist recommended,” Van Zyl had said.
The State had not opposed the application.
Outstanding evidence including a bloodied towel, two witness statements, cellphone plotting analysis and crime scene video material were also expected to be submitted to court.
Cape Times