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- A 42-year-old Belgian citizen who raped and killed Chantelle Barnard has been sentenced to life in prison.
- Jurgen Karel Gunther Vandekeere was also sentenced to five years behind bars for thwarting the ends of justice.
- Vandekeere fled the country after his arrest and was arrested again in January 2020 when he returned to South Africa.
A 42-year-old Belgian citizen has been sentenced to two life sentences for the rape and murder of Chantelle Barnard in 2011.
The Gauteng High Court in Benoni sentenced Jurgen Karel Gunther Vandekeere to two life sentences for rape and murder, as well as five years for thwarting the ends of justice. The court ordered the sentences to be carried out at the same time.
National Tax Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said Barnard visited Benoni’s small property that belonged to Vandekeere’s father on April 1 of that year, where she and her boyfriend had rented a flat.
READ | Benoni murder trial finally underway after suspect evaded police for seven years
“They had vacated the flat the day before and Chantelle returned to the facility that day to return a key and pick up some items that had been left,” Mahanjana said.
“Vandekeere, who stayed in the same place, approached Barnard when she was inside the empty apartment and invited her to his house under unknown pretexts, where he raped and killed her by slitting her throat.”
Chantelle barnard
News24 previously reported that after killing Barnard, Vandekeere bathed his body.
Barnard’s family began looking for her when she did not answer their calls to her cell phone. Later, a neighbor reported hearing screams coming from the plot.
READ ALSO | Woman raped, murdered and then bathed
Barnard’s mother, Suzette, went to the plot and began banging on the doors until Vandekeere’s father opened it for her.
He opened his son’s home, where Barnard’s body was found.
Mahanjana said the matter was delayed because Vandekeere skipped the country after his arrest, adding that he was only arrested again after returning to South Africa in January 2020 and turned himself in to police.
Suzette Barnard, mother of the slain Chantelle Barnard, hugs the state attorney, adv. Annalie Coetzee.
“The prosecutor, defender Annalie Coetzee, said that the delay, caused by the fact that the defendant did not appear for trial in 2013, greatly exacerbated the trauma suffered by the relatives and friends of the deceased,” Mahanjana added.
“Coetzee expressed his satisfaction with the sentences imposed.”
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