The South African Satanic Church has slammed the lawyer of alleged child killer Daniel Smit for claiming he had butchered a 13-year-old boy because he is a Satanist.
THE South African Satanic Church has slammed the lawyer of alleged child killer Daniel Smit for claiming he had butchered a 13-year-old boy because he is a Satanist.
This follows statements made by attorney Santie Human outside the Klawer Magistrates’ Court on Monday where Smit appeared for the horrific murder of Jerobejin van Wyk.
The murder shocked the farming community after it was revealed the 56-year-old man allegedly chased the child for stealing mangoes. He allegedly drove over the child, then cut up his body and dumped his remains in a drain at his house.
Human claimed Smit had been introduced to the occult at the age of 13 in Vredendal and says he learnt how to commit and conceal murder at age 19 by an occult group in Sea Point.
“This case is not about racial hate, he does not hate the child he killed at all. This is about occults known by us as Satanists, I am not really sure about the difference between the two,” she said.
The lawyer said the cult was about “pure evil” and the “spirit of darkness” which has claimed other missing children as sacrifices.
The co-founder of the SA Satanic church, Reverend Riaan Swiegelaar, says they were shocked to hear Human’s statements, saying she was an “embarrassment” to the law profession.
“We were shocked and very disturbed because Satanists do not believe in human or animal sacrifices at all,” Swiegelaar told the Daily Voice yesterday.
“We believe that the motive for this murder is racial because the lawyer is going out of her way to say that it is not while using Satanism as a scapegoat.”
He says they immediately launched an investigation and found that Smit is not a member of the SA Satanic Church, while fringe groups have no knowledge of him.
“He is definitely not one of our members and we have reached out to smaller groups and they have no knowledge of him either. She makes claims that the murder was committed on 2 February because this is some high day for Satanists, no such day exists. The only people who have high days are Pagans and it is completely different from Satanism.”
He called Human’s comments hate speech, saying she was endangering the lives of Satanists in the country.
“She is insulting the intelligence of the court by trying to use Satanism as a reason for the murder. She is an embarrassment to the law profession and her comments should be regarded as hate speech,” added Swiegelaar.
Human, however, insists her client confessed to her that he is a Satanist and that he had killed Jerobejin in a satanic ritual on 2 February – “a special day in their calendar”.
“He has been involved in the occult since 13 [years old]. My instructions are that [Satanism] is the only reason [for the murder].”
She said Smit will plead guilty and is not trying to escape punishment.
Responding to Swiegelaar labelling her as an embarrassment, Human says: “I do not work for them – I work for my client. They are entitled to their opinion like all others are.”
Smit’s case has been postponed to 26 April.
