A Northern Cape killer who went on a crime spree between September 2022 and April 2023 has been sentenced in the Kimberley High Court.
Wendell Swartz, 21, was convicted on charges of murder, attempted arson, theft, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH), and malicious damage to property.
He pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.
Northern Cape police spokesperson, Colonel Cherelle Ehlers said Swartz’s crime spree began on September 23, 2020, when he assaulted a 29-year-old man with a panga in Koopmansfontein while attending a braai at a friend’s house.
“He then proceeded to smash all the windows of the vehicle belonging to his friend, before fleeing the scene.
“On March 22, 2023, he set his parent’s house alight in Delportshoop. He then threw his sister and niece out the window, unfortunately, he fled the scene when police assisted the two young girls.
“On April 1, 2023, he slit the throat of a 59-year-old traditional healer when she went to pray in the veld. Her body was discovered wrapped in a duvet the following day,” Ehlers said.
Swartz was arrested on April 3, 2023, at his parent’s home in Delportshoop.
The court sentenced Swartz to 15 years imprisonment for murder, 12 months imprisonment for assault GBH, 12 months imprisonment for malicious damage to property, 12 months imprisonment for attempted arson and six months imprisonment for theft.
The sentences will run concurrently, meaning Swartz will serve 16 years imprisonment.
The Northern Cape police commissioner, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola commended Detective Warrant Officer Jim Williams of the Delportshoop Detective Unit for securing the conviction.