Mortimer Saunders found guilty

Mortimer Saunders has been found guilty of rape and the premeditated murder of Courtney Pieters.

Courtney, three, was raped twice before being murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Bofors Circle in Epping, Industria, after she went missing on 4 May 2017 from her Pluto Street home in Elsies River in the Western Cape.

On Wednesday, the Western Cape High Court found Saunders guilty after he pleaded guilty to killing the little girl, but he denied raping her.

Judge Babalwa Mantame said Courtney was young and defenceless, yet she died a slow and painful death.

Mantame described Saunders’s behaviour as most brutal, ruthless and vicious, as he hid evidence. 

The matter has been postponed until 4 December for sentencing. - SAnews.gov.za