A stalker has pleaded guilty to killing a young woman with an axe on her 21st birthday, as well as a string of other violent crimes.
Calvin Cloete, 35, from Lutzville-West, brutally murdered Carmen Gouws, and also pleaded guilty to four charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, rape and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The case has garnered significant attention not only for its harrowing nature, but also for the swift efforts of Detective Constable Rugene Links that led to Cloete's conviction.
Carmen, who was Cloete’s ex-girlfriend, was hacked to death with an axe on her birthday on 7 October 2023.
Kids from the community found her bloody body on an open veldjie.
Just three weeks before her death, Cloete was released from jail where he had been serving time for stalking and stabbing Carmen. Her family said he had been harassing her since she was in high school.
Cloete appeared in the Vredendal Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to all the charges.
Court documents of Cloete’s guilty plea gave a detailed account of how he assaulted the young women over the years, raped her and later murdered her.
Cloete revealed that on the day of the murder, he had a byl on him and was threatening Carmen and forced her to go with him.
The document states: “While we were walking, I became so angry that I then proceeded to assault her by hitting her all over her body and kicking her with my shoes.
“I also took the axe that I had with me and fatally assaulted the complainant with the axe and with my fist and feet.
“I admit that when I assaulted her with the axe, I had the intention to kill her.
“I admit that the cause of death as noted by the pathologist was blunt force trauma to the body. I knew my actions were wrongful and that I could be punished.”
Cloete is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday, 29 October.
Carmen’s mother, Brenda Gouws, said her daughter’s brutal murder has left her broken, but she is glad that justice has finally been served, even though it will not bring Carmen back to her.
The hartseer mother told the Daily Voice: “I am still very sad because I couldn't even celebrate my child's birthday.
“I don’t want to ever see him again because of what he did to me, he broke my heart in two and that wound can’t be healed.”