The horrific deaths of slain Vredenburg siblings Faith and Conray Adams took centre stage at the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday as the state highlighted the brutality of how they were killed at the hands of a man who helped raise them.
Legal teams went head to head on Tuesday as they submitted their final arguments to Judge Pearl Andrews ahead of the sentencing of convicted child killer, Derick Kalmeyer.
The 28s gang member from Vredenburg, known as “Slang”, now faces being sentenced to two life terms in prison for murdering the siblings in their home on 1 May 2019.
According to the state’s case, the 54-year-old man was in a relationship with the children’s mother, Frizaan, and allegedly got into an argument with her and a friend on the night of the murders.
The two women then fled the hokkie, leaving the siblings behind.
During the shocking trial, it was revealed that three-year-old Faith had been stabbed 19 times while 18-month-old Conray was stabbed 14 times and had skull fractures which were caused by being flung through a glass window.
Kalmeyer pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of resisting arrest.
During sentencing proceedings, it was revealed that Kalmeyer was first convicted in 1985 for malicious damage to property and received lashes as punishment when he was just 16 years old.
In his arguments, defence lawyer, Advocate Bash Sibda, called on the court to consider Kalmeyer’s age when handing down sentencing, as he called for a sentence of 22 years as opposed to life in prison.
Sibda claimed that while Kalmeyer was a 28s gang member, he only did so to stay safe while in the mang.
He said Kalmeyer did not align himself with the gang and instead entered into a romantic relationship with Frizaan and assumed the role of a father.
However, State prosecutor, Advocate Evadne Kortje, told the court that Kalmeyer had violated his position as a foster father to Faith and Conray
She called for the court to hand down a life sentence, saying the horrific nature of the crimes and the community’s outrage outweighed Kalmeyer’s personal circumstances.
In a heartfelt statement, Kortje highlighted the painful deaths the toddlers suffered, saying they must have been frightened in their last moments alive as they were each stabbed more than 10 times.
Noting the fact that Kalmeyer also threw Conray through a glass window, Kortje said: “He threw him through a window. This was a human being thrown like an object through a glass window’.
The case was postponed to 24 June.