A panel of experts from Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital has found that self-confessed killer Kyle Ruiters is a psychopath who should be declared a dangerous criminal.
This was revealed at the Western Cape High Court yesterday after the man who admitted to murdering and chopping up the body of Lynette Volschenk, 32, returned to court.
Ruiters was sent for psychiatric observation after he detailed the horrific murder of Lynette who was stabbed inside her Bellville flat in 2019.
At the time, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, explained that in his plea deal, Ruiters admitted that he was a drug user and owed his drug dealer R30 000.
He formulated a plan to rob and murder someone to settle the debt.
He surveilled various people, taking notes and making videos of their movements at their residences and places of work. He also tracked their social media activities.
With Lynette, he even drafted a message for her family and friends in case they came looking for her. He didn’t post the message but kept it on his phone, said Ntabazalila.
Ruiters told the court that on the afternoon of the murder, he followed her into her flat which was above his own.
He grabbed a knife that was on the counter and stabbed her several times in the neck and body. She screamed and fought back but stopped moving and he realised that she was dead.
He decided to dismember her body to dispose of her.
In an earlier psychiatric report, Ruiters told psychiatrists that he was fascinated by serial killers, and he researched the topic extensively.
During court proceedings on Monday ahead of his sentencing, the 28-year-old told the court that he was high on tik and dagga at the time of the murder.
In his affidavit, he explained that both of his parents were drug addicts who abandoned him when he was 17 months old, and he was raised by his aunt.
He said during his school years, he was bullied and while being held at Pollsmoor Prison, he was forced to join a gang.
Defence advocate Ross McKernan also read a handwritten letter where Ruiters admits to the murder and asks Lynette’s family for forgiveness.
State psychiatrist Dr Stacy-Leigh Lintaar, said during sessions with Ruiters he admitted to stalking another woman who had rejected his romantic advances.
She explained that the panel made a unanimous assessment that Ruiters was a psychopath with an anti-social behaviour disorder, adding that not every killer would dismember a human body.
Ruiters also told psychiatrists about sex tapes he had made without the consent of his companions.
Lintaar adds: “When it came to the sex tapes, he was very eager to tell us about this.
The case continues on Wednesday.