A former Cape Flats pastor convicted of murder, rape, crimen injuria and theft was sentenced to an effective fifty years behind bars in the Western Cape high court on Monday.
Keith Bird entered into a plea of guilty on two counts of murder, seven of rape, four of crimen injuria as well as theft.
The plea and sentence agreement was finalised in the Western Cape high court on Monday.
The former pastor was arrested in 2017 for the murders of Sharvonne Koense, 20 and An-Niesa Bardien, 36, who he killed after she broke off their engagement. Bardien's decomposed body was found several days after her disappearance.
Bird also allegedly used social media to lure women. In one case in May 2014, he arranged to meet a woman through Facebook, on the pretext of offering her a modelling job. He then allegedly took out a knife and taser and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
In January 2014, he used the social network app "Mxit" to meet one of the complainants. He visited her at her home and allegedly raped her, threatening to shock her if she did not co-operate. He also allegedly stole her Blackberry cellphone.
The state says he returned to her house twice a week from January to May, threatening her and her family if she did not comply with his demands for sex.
Bird received sentences of 25 years for each murder and a total of 108 years for the other counts. The sentences for one count of murder, the counts of rape, crimen injuria and theft were ordered to run concurrently, meaning an effective sentence of fifty years.
The aggravating factors in the plea agreement included the fact that there were multiple charges of rape, two lives were lost, Bird got away with his crime spree for almost three years before he got caught and the victims remain traumatised.
- African News Agency (ANA)
