/ 3 January 2006

Case of Plet murder accused remanded

The case of the 47-year-old handyman accused of killing a six-year-old Johannesburg boy in Plettenberg Bay was on Tuesday postponed to March 3 in the Knysna Magistrate’s Court.

The court ordered that the man, known as Theuns Christian Olivier or Raymond Sinclair, be held at the Knysna correctional centre.

Investigating officer John Nomdoe said the alleged murderer did not apply for bail on Tuesday and was not asked to plead.

He informed the court that he would conduct his own defence.

Olivier was arrested on Christmas Eve for allegedly sexually assaulting and murdering six-year-old Steven Siebert.

The boy, who went missing on December 23, had been on holiday with his parents in Plettenberg Bay.

His body was discovered on Christmas Eve near his parents’ holiday home.

Olivier was arrested after a passing motorist, Helga Lengacher, told police she saw Siebert with a ”rather hobo-looking” man that Friday evening as she drove past his family’s property and gave them a description.

Olivier appeared in the Plettenberg Bay Magistrate’s Court on December 27 when his case was remanded to Tuesday.

The case was moved to Knysna due to security reasons and the size of the courtroom.

Western Cape police were on Tuesday said they were expecting the results of a fingerprint analysis from the South African Police Service crime-reporting centre in Pretoria.

This is to clarify whether Olivier is South African.

Nomdoe said the accused has satanic tattoos on him, ”like an animal head with horns and [the number] triple six between them”.

He said the man also has ”an upside-down cross with the words ‘burn in hell”’. — Sapa