Just before 10am on Tuesday, the last of the Waterkloof Four, Christoff Bekker, was whisked away from the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court and taken to Pretoria Central Prison to start the first day of his 12-year prison sentence.
Making no comment to the media, Bekker (22) climbed into in a gold BMW and sat in stony silence, staring straight ahead as the car drove out of the court premises.
On Monday, his three co-accused, Frikkie du Preez, Gert van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt reported to the court to begin their sentences for the murder and assault of two unknown men in 2001.
Wearing track suits and carrying backpacks, Du Preez, Van Schalkwyk and Tiedt walked out of the building quietly, making no comment to the reporters watching from afar.
They got into a police car and, with a blast of a siren, were driven through the streets of Pretoria, to prison.
They were sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in January last year for murdering an unknown man and assaulting another in a park in 2001 while they were at school.
All four maintained their innocence throughout their lengthy trial and unsuccessful high court appeal that followed.
The Supreme Court of Appeal last week also turned down their appeal against their convictions and sentences. — Sapa