The murder trial for slain Tazne van Wyk has been put on hold until next year as there are no available court dates this year.
The parents of the eight-year-old girl, who was snatched from her home in February last year, were left disappointed when they arrived at court on Monday where they were told the matter had been postponed.
The Grade 3 pupil from Eurecon Primary School went missing on 7 February 2020 when she was snatched just metres from her home in Clare Street, Ravensmead.
Hundreds of mense flocked to the area to help search for the girl who had vanished without a trace.
Police launched a manhunt for Moehydien Pangaker, 56, after a neighbour revealed that he disappeared at the same time.
He was later arrested in Cradock in the Eastern Cape and while on his way to Cape Town, he told cops where to find Tazne’s body.
Tears of disbelief flowed when it was confirmed that the body of the eight-year-old meisie was found dumped in a stormwater drain in Worcester.
Pangaker made a brief appearance at the Western Cape High Court on Monday as the trial was supposed to commence but proceedings were cut short when the matter was postponed to 16 May 2022.
He faces 20 charges which include rape, murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice dating back to 2016.
Tazne’s mom, Carmen says they had hoped to get answers about what led up to their daughter’s death.
“The case is like a circus until today we still don’t know what led to this. Here he appeared and can’t even look us in the face. The case is postponed for another year that we must wait.”
Shocking court documents revealed that Tazne had been raped, killed and her hand cut off just a day after she went missing.
In the first rape case against him, Pangaker is accused of raping a woman on a veldjie in Ladismith in 2016.
According to the indictment, during the period between 2016 and 2019, Pangaker also allegedly raped a minor girl.
He is accused of raping the child four times in Ladismith where he also took her to a dam where he sexually assaulted her and raped her several more times.
In 2019, he allegedly tied the same child up in a house in Worcester and threatened to kill her if she reported the rapes.
He has also been charged with incest for impregnating a relative.
monique.duval@inl.co.za