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Child killer receives three life sentences after girl, 12, slain

ROBIN-LEE FRANCKE

THE man who pleaded guilty to raping and murdering a Cape Town girl has been sentenced in the Western Cape High Court yesterday to three life terms plus seven years.

Steven Fortune pleaded guilty in December last year to charges of murder, two counts of rape and the kidnapping of Michaela Williams from Pelican Park on January 7.

According to the summary of facts presented before the court, Fortune strangled Michaela, 12, with his hands and she resisted, knocking off his glasses. He then ripped the vest top she was wearing from her body and used the material to tie her wrists behind her back.

Fortune then raped Michaela and when she began screaming he used her own skirt to strangle her in an attempt to keep her quiet.

The State said Fortune had then thrown two concrete blocks on top of the young girl’s head and covered her body with a blanket before leaving the scene of the crime.

Fortune, who had been previously convicted for attempted murder and rape of a minor, was sought by the police for questioning the day after Michaela disappeared.

On January 8, Fortune sent a text to a relative, giving a location for the police to find and arrest him. He gave them a statement and even pointed out where he had left the girl’s body. A post-mortem revealed the cause of death as a combination of blunt-force trauma to the head and ligature compression of the neck.

Fortune was sentenced to life imprisonment for Michaela’s murder, life imprisonment for each of the rape charges and seven years for kidnapping.

The judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

Fortune has also been deemed unfit to possess a firearm and it has been ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.

Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Eric Ntabazalila said it welcomed the sentencing and that the court has asked that the judgment be forwarded for the attention of the minister of justice and the minister of correctional services. | African News Agency (ANA)

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2021-06-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

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