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By Natasha Pretorius

Journalist


Krugersdorp Murders: ‘She was sent to open the gates of hell’

One of the best friends of co-accused Cecilia Steyn has revealed bizarre and disturbing testimony suggestive of profound mental illness.


The trial of the remaining three accused in the Krugersdorp murders case, Cecilia Steyn, Marcel Steyn, and Zac Valentine, continued in the High Court in Johannesburg last week after a two-week postponement, Krugersdorp News has reported.

According to Candice Rajivec, a friend of Cecilia’s who testified, Cecilia told her that her birth was foretold and that she had to grow up in the occult in order to one day be able to open the gates to hell on earth.

Cecilia said her whole family was part of the occult and she was abused not only as a child, but even when she was already married her father would “astral-project” to rape her by using her husband. At times he would send demons to rape her.

Rajivec said one of Cecilia’s powers was astral projection and that she had even been to the moon.

READ MORE: Krugersdorp murder trial starts with son Le Roux’s disturbing testimonial

According to Ravijec, Cecilia suffered from dissociative identity disorder and had more than 100 different personalities.

In a letter Rajivec read out in court, the writer, named “Elise”, who was allegedly Cecilia’s mother, said that “Anja”, a three-year-old girl who was one of Cecilia’s personalities, should be taken care of.

“She is very loyal and becomes weak quickly,” the letter read. It urged the reader to feed “Anja” regularly and to look after her.

The letter warns the reader against “Akeshia”, the personality who, according to Rajivec, was second-in-command, whereas “Anja” was the purest form of Cecilia.

Rajivec said further that Cecilia had told her that she was a 42nd-generation witch and the strongest witch of them all. As the bride of Satan, Cecilia claimed she had met him and she had to endure rituals in order for them to become one. She told Rajivec that her “daughter” (possibly “Anja”) was a 43rd-generation witch and werewolf and that she sometimes made her walk on all fours to practise.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Two of the ‘Krugersdorp killers’ sentenced

Lying was easier than breathing for Cecilia, said Rajivec, who was Cecilia’s best friend for over four years.

She said that Cecilia could do things to a person without them even knowing about it. She could apparently turn into a werewolf herself and hold her breath underwater for more than an hour. She could even walk on water.

She told Rajivec that she was dying and would faint and throw up blood at times.

It emerged that Cecilia would drive away from her house, cut the fingertips off a rubber glove and fill them with her own blood. She would then keep these blood bubbles in her mouth until she had one of her ‘fits’, when she would bite them and pretend to throw up blood. This was apparently to show that her organs were giving in.

READ MORE: Two of Krugersdorp murder accused might sign plea bargain soon

Rajivec said that during their four-year friendship, the amount of money she would give Cecilia for her health problems would grow from R100 in the beginning to R100,000 a month in the end.

Marinda Steyn, who is already serving her sentence, left everything she had to Cecilia just before she was arrested.

Jan van Aardt, the principal of Hoërskool Jan de Klerk in Krugersdorp, where Marinda was employed and in whose classroom ammunition was found, testified and said that he signed the hand-written last will and testament as a witness. In the document, Marinda stipulated that Cecilia could use her estate as she wished and it was hers alone.

Van Aardt said Marinda was an excellent teacher and he could not believe it when he heard about what she and the members of the group had done.

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