Prisoners beat child killer
Anton Ferreira Published:Aug 01, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


MURDERER: Theunis Olivier


No more than he deserves – murdered boy’s dad



Inmates recognise Olivier after seeing him on TV and mete out their own rough justice.

KILLER paedophile Theunis Olivier was beaten by fellow prisoners when they realised he was the man who sodomised and murdered six-year-old Steven Siebert.

The Cape High Court yesterday convicted Olivier, 49, of the murder of Steven in Plettenberg Bay on December 23, 2005.

Olivier appeared in the dock yesterday with raw wounds on his face, which police said had been inflicted by fellow prisoners who recognised him from the media coverage of his trial.

The police said Olivier wanted the judge to order that he be kept in a cell by himself.

But Steven’s father Thomas Siebert, said: “He gave up his rights to any privileges a long time ago.”

He said Olivier’s treatment was his own fault — “He deserves it.”

The police said Olivier had complained that prisoners at Pollsmoor Prison first attacked him on Monday night, after they saw media coverage of his trial, which included pictures of him.

He was assaulted again in the van that brought prisoners to court yesterday morning.

The left side of his face bore several grazes and bruises.

Siebert said of the assault: “He’s a victim of his own circumstances. If he had pleaded guilty at the start there wouldn’t have been so much media coverage. So it’s his own doing … he deserves what he gets.”

Olivier, looking gaunt and grey, hung his head as Judge Essa Moosa read his verdict and described the gruesome sexual injuries the Zimbabwe-born handyman inflicted before he strangled Steven with a telephone cable.

The cable lay on a table in front of the dock as an exhibit.

Olivier, who will be sentenced today, faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

But Thomas Siebert, who lives in Sandton, said he would want the death sentence to be handed down if it were still in force.

He said: “It’s a difficult question about taking someone’s life. But the fact that in five years’ time we wouldn’t have to think about him still living and breathing in prison [whereas] our son will still be dead … obviously it would be nice not to have to think about that in the long run.”

Olivier’s lawyer, Tobie Benade, said his client would testify in mitigation of sentence today.

Siebert said he did not believe anything that his son’s killer said. “It will be another vain attempt to stall things and get some kind of sympathy or lesser sentence. I’ll probably hear, but I won’t be listening.”