/ 5 November 2007

I feel nothing, says ‘evil, perverted’ serial killer

Olievenhoutbosch serial killer Richard Jabulani Nyauza smiled and said he ”felt nothing” after being given 16 life terms in the Pretoria High Court on Monday for a series of gruesome murders in 2002 and 2006.

”I feel nothing. They’re doing too little. It changes nothing,” the HIV-positive Nyauza told reporters before being led down to the court cells.

He also shook the hand of serial-killer expert Senior Superintendent Dr Gerard Labuschagne, who heads the investigative psychology unit of the police and was responsible for linkage analysis resulting in Nyauza’s conviction on all 24 charges against him.

Moments earlier, the 37-year-old father of two told the court he was ”a man of God”. He agreed that the Bible said one should not kill or steal.

Sixteen women — many of whom have not been identified — lost their lives and one woman’s life changed forever in Nyauza’s killing spree.

Jane Seremane was repeatedly stabbed with a screwdriver, almost strangled and left for dead when Nyauza attacked her in 2006. She lost her unborn baby and partially lost her sight and the use of her one hand as a result of the attack.

Sentencing Nyauza to 16 life terms on 16 murder charges and a further 140 years’ imprisonment on charges of rape, robbery and attempted murder, Judge John Murphy said it was his duty to ensure that Nyauza was permanently removed from society.

”You are an evil, perverted serial murderer who poses an extreme danger to society in general and women in particular,” he said.

In view of Nyauza’s complete lack of remorse or acknowledgement of his deeds, the judge said there was little prospect of rehabilitation and recommended that the accused remain in jail for the remainder of his natural life.

He rejected Nyauza’s claims that he was innocent and his explanation that his DNA was found inside four of his victims because he was ”a man of exceptional sexual prowess”.

He said apart from DNA evidence, cellphone evidence and Nyauza’s own pointing-out of seven of the murder scenes to police, the court also accepted Labuschagne’s linkage analysis and conclusion that the same man had murdered all of the victims, even where there was no direct evidence against him.

All of the bodies were found close to the Olievenhoutbosch informal settlement where Nyauza lived and carried the same signature. Most of the murders had a sexual theme.

Nyauza was also linked through DNA to the last body found in the 2002 series of murders and to three of the bodies found in the 2006 series.

The murders stopped after Nyauza was arrested at the end of 2002, but started again in 2006, shortly after his release from jail.

He told police he felt women did not deserve to live, because a woman had given him Aids, although he denied this in court. — Sapa