Sentencing of David Olyne’s murderer delayed for third time

Justice for gay hate crime murder victim David Olyne has been delayed for a third time in the Western Cape High Court in Ceres.

Sentencing of his killer Christo Oncke, 29, was this week postponed until 19 May because his psychological report is still outstanding.

According to Son, Judge Siraj Desai insisted that he cannot proceed with the sentencing until he has seen the report.

“The report can help him [Oncke] with his sentence or not,” said Desai. “He had problems testifying in court because his intellectual level is very low.”

The prosecutor, Adv. Ntsoaki Mabietse, argued that Oncke had been previously found fit to stand trial by the court and objected to the delay.

“It is not in the interest of justice to wait for the report,” he said.

Oncke was found guilty of killing Olyne in January. After saying he was “going to kill a moffie [fag],” he beat and kicked the tied-up 22-year-old to death in March 2014 as a group of young locals watched on.

Olyne’s wire-bound body was also set on fire, while he was still alive.

LGBT group Triangle Project has previously stated that it believes that two other people, in addition to Oncke, were likely involved in the killing and that they have gotten away with murder.

Triangle has also slammed the police’s investigation, accusing the authorities of oversight, a lack of thorough investigation, and of not following up on leads and witnesses it provided.