“As an activist, I am very grateful for the outcome. I am grateful to Detective Baksteen Louw and his team. But we are not done yet, there is still a long way ahead for us.” So said Lucinda Evans, an activist with women’s- and children’s-rights group One Billion Rising.
The Western Cape High Court has sentenced a child in conflict with the law to an effective 25-year direct imprisonment following his conviction for the murder of Deveney Nel and an attempt to defeat the course of justice.
“In this case, 25 years of direct imprisonment is the maximum sentence the accused could receive under the law,” said Eric Ntabazalilac, the National Prosecuting Authority Regional Communications Manager of the Western Cape.
According to Ntabazalilac the accused, through his legal representative, approached the State with an offer to enter into a plea and sentence agreement. “He confessed to the murder of Nel, an attempt to hide her body, and he was sentenced to 25 years’ direct imprisonment for the murder and 12 months’ direct imprisonment for the attempt to defeat the course of justice. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, effectively sentencing him to 25 years’ direct imprisonment. Both her mother, Lida Nel and the investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Louw, were consulted before the sentence agreement was concluded, and they agreed with the sentence.”
In the aggravating factors, State Adv Leon Snyman told the court that the accused murdered the deceased at school, a place where children are supposed to be safe. “He used excessive violence, stabbed her with so much force that her left lung collapsed, and the blade perforated the right ventricle of her heart. The motivation offered for the killing is indicative of toxic masculinity. The high level of disregard for human life shown at such a young age by the accused is worrisome.
“The family of the deceased is traumatised by the offence, and her mother will never fully recover from this loss. There is a public outcry against the high levels of serious and violent crime against women in South Africa,” Snyman said.
In her first statement since the incident Deveney’s mother Lida said: “Deveney was brutally, deliberately and cold-bloodedly murdered. For me, there are no mitigating circumstances. Murder is the worst thing anyone can do. Still, some days I think to myself that what happened cannot be true, because how can anyone think of hurting another so much that it causes their death.”
She also described the pain as unimaginable. “Losing your daughter (or child) to another’s hand is the most painful pain that can exist in a parent’s life. The pain is unimaginable; I will never be able to fully describe or express it. This is a pain I can’t describe, I don’t have the words to explain it, it is indescribably heartbreaking Deveney, my daughter, was gentle, loving, helpful, full of empathy for others and always put other people’s feelings above her own, stood up for what is right and wrong, she was a phenomenal piece of a person and had her whole life ahead of her, she wanted to continue studying and help others, but one monster cut her life short and caused such an immense amount of sorrow that he will never ever be able to understand or imagine.”
The horrific murder of Deveney on 7 Augustus 2024 in Caledon shocked the entire country. Deveney’s body was found in a storage room in the school after she had been stabbed. Deveney and the murderer had attended school together. The accused, 17 years old at the time of his arrest, was initially held at a centre for youth as per the law, but was moved to a regular prison after turning 18 in April.
He was, however, tried as a minor under the Child Justice Act because he was legally a minor at the time of Deveney’s murder and his arrest, and is why he cannot be named.
Evans is calling for an urgent review of the Act, arguing that it gave repeat juvenile offenders too much protection while failing to keep schools and communities safe. “If he behaves well he may be able to get out of prison after 10 years, and that’s what we want to stop,” she said.
- Meanwhile the accused’s mother applied for interdicts against activist Tanya Bippert, One Billion Rising SA’s national co-ordinator Evans, a woman from Grabouw and Julian Jansen, a well-known journalist and the author of a number of books including The Murder of Deveney Nel. They will once again appear in the Grabouw Magistrates’ Court on 6 November to oppose a protection order aimed at prohibiting them from commenting about the case or posting anything on social media on the case.
