The Cape High Court on Monday jailed for life a science graduate who launched a fatal axe attack on his former gay partner, who had started a new relationship with another partner.
Judge Daniel Dlodlo told Michael Barend van Zyl (29) that he was a danger not only to society, but also to himself. He added: ”Your vicious axe attack on the deceased tells the court what kind of violence you are capable of, and that you might in the future be inclined to do it again to someone else.”
Van Zyl was sentenced for the premeditated murder of estate agent Andre Weitz. He got an additional 15 years for aggravated robbery — relating to his escape, after the murder, in Weitz’s car, with many of Weitz’s personal belongings.
Van Zyl wept silently during sentencing, head down, and did not once look up at the people in court.
He seemed offended by any acts of kindness shown to him, even when the police court orderly passed tissues to him, given to the officer by people who were in the courtroom to support Van Zyl.
When he was led sobbing from the courtroom to the holding cells, in leg and wrist irons, he ignored an elderly couple who stretched out their arms to him.
The attack on Weitz, in June 2004 at Weitz’s Thornton home, happened after Weitz had started a new relationship with another partner.
The judge said Weitz had not been happy about Van Zyl’s unexpected arrival at his home, which Weitz had at that stage shared with his new partner.
The judge said Weitz had been kind enough to take Van Zyl to a bus stop, for a trip to Durban, but Van Zyl, instead of boarding the bus, had wandered around all over the Cape Peninsula before eventually returning to the Weitz home.
Weitz was not at home, but Van Zyl had gained access nevertheless, and had taken a bath before trying to commit suicide by slashing his wrists and swallowing pills. It was after Weitz had returned home, and gone to bed with his new partner, that Van Zyl had attacked Weitz.
The judge said Van Zyl held a BSc degree in applied mathematics and computer science, which indicated he was gifted and highly intelligent.
The judge told Van Zyl: ”You benefited greatly from your relationship with Weitz, who provided you with food and shelter. He treated you as if he had a legal obligation to do so, like a concerned parent. It is possible that you became an unbearable burden to him, but he did not deserve the brutal attack that you inflicted on him.”
Dlodlo said society had the right to look to the courts for protection, and he was duty bound to express society’s displeasure with what Van Zyl had done.
The judge said he was unable to find any circumstances that could justify a sentence less severe than life imprisonment for the murder, and 15 years for the robbery. — Sapa