Still no light shed on Anika’s slaying
Anika Smit's mother will apply for Legal Aid.
A mother’s anguish and uncertainty about events surrounding the brutal rape, slaying and mutilation of her beloved daughter will be prolonged for another three months.
It has been almost five years since the 17-year-old Anika Smit was murdered in her father’s Theresa Park home by having her throat slit before both her hands were severed.
Though the police investigation into the murder has continued unabated, nobody has been arrested for the killing of the Hoërskool Gerrit Maritz Grade 11 pupil in 2010. Her family and loved ones had hoped a formal inquest into her death, scheduled for Friday 13 February, would shed some light on the mystery.
However, Pretoria North Regional Magistrate Pierre Wessels postponed the inquest to 12 May to enable Anika’s mother to obtain legal representation from the Legal Aid Board.
“It is impossible for me to get closure about the death of my beautiful daughter because of this uncertainty. I do not know if they will ever find the person responsible for her death, but believe the inquest will shed more light on the events of that fateful day,” Anika’s mother, Charlotte Eksteen, told Rekord.
Wessels ordered that the unemployed Eksteen who currently lives in Hartenbos, should receive legal aid after the Legal Aid Board earlier said in terms of regulations, Eksteen did not qualify for a state-appointed lawyer to represent her in the inquest proceedings.
Only three people – Eksteen, Anika’s father, Johan Smit, and Anika’s former boyfriend, Nico Venter – had been named as interested parties in the inquest who will be required to give testimony. Both Smit and Venter have legal representation.
“This court cannot expect the mother of a murdered daughter, who has no legal background and who is emotional, to handle the questioning of witnesses before this court.
“She is now the voice of her daughter who had been so cruelly murdered and therefore she deserves legal aid,” prosecutor Tania Carstens argued.
Wessels agreed, saying he could just imagine how difficult it would be for a mother to look at photos of her slain daughter and ask meaningful questions about them during the inquest.
“It is definitely in the interest of justice, the community of Pretoria North and the mother that she had proper legal representation in these proceedings,” Wessels said.
Venter was initially arrested in connection with the murder, but all charges against him were later withdrawn and he was released.
Had the inquest taken place on Friday, it would have been the first time that evidence was given by Venter and Smit in an open court.
On the day of her murder, Anika stayed at home from school because of an ear infection. Police investigations at the time indicated that the 17-year-old had known her attacker as she had locked the family dogs in the back yard and there had been no sign of any forced entry into the house, which had several security doors.
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