This story contains graphic details of a brutal murder and could upset sensitive readers.
Twenty-seven-year-old Kyle Ruiters told the court through a plea deal how he owed a drug dealer money and then had to make a plan to pay his debt.
Ruiters then stalked his victim, 32-year-old Lynette Volschenk and stabbed her to death in her flat, before dismembering her body.
A spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Eric Ntabazalila says Ruiters, who confessed to being obsessed with serial killers, shows psychopathic traits and could be declared a danger to others.
He says the prosecutor in the case, Deputy Director Advocate Louise Friester said the court must be satisfied that Ruiters represents a danger to the physical and mental well-being of other people and that the community must be protected against him, before imposing an appropriate sentence.
Ntabazalila says the state wants to declare Ruiters a dangerous criminal as envisaged in Section 286A of the Criminal Procedure Act.
In his plea deal, Ruiters told the court that he owed his drug dealer R30 000 and was threatened with severe consequences if he did not pay.
He then formulated a plan to murder someone in order to steal their valuable items to settle his debt.
Ruiters told the court through his guilty plea that he researched various possible victims, taking notes and videos of their movements from their homes and work as well as areas they frequented.
He even stalked their social media activities, and eventually zoned in on Volschenk.
Ruiters said he made notes about his intention to kill Volschenk and even drafted a message for her family and friends in case they came looking for her, he never used the message though and just kept it on his phone.
On the afternoon of 21 August 2019, Ruiters watched Volschenk walk into her flat which was above his own, when she opened her door he followed her inside.
Ruiters said he grabbed a knife on the counter and stabbed Volschenk several times in the neck and body.
He says she screamed and resisted the attack and sustained defensive wounds on her hands and upper forearms.
Only when she stopped moving he realised that she was dead and then needed to make a plan to dispose of the body.
Ruiters said he decided to dismember her body and searched for information on Google on how to do it.
He used a hand-held saw he found in the flat and started to drag the body to various parts of the flat where he manage to cut off her head.
Ruiters said the task proved to be difficult and he went back to his flat to change his clothes and sleep.
The next morning he took the head, placed it in a backpack and dumped it along Jip de Jager Drive in the bushes, before going to a hardware store where he purchased a set of yellow gloves and a backsaw which he used to cut the victim's body into nine parts.
Ruiters used cooler boxes and bags found in the deceased's flat and took it to his house.
Ruiters returned to the deceased’s flat to try and clean up bloodstains, during this time, the deceased's colleagues became concerned when she did not show up for work and subsequently made contact with a resident they knew, who went to look for her.
The NPA's Ntabazalila says the woman noticed that the security gate of the flat was open but the front door was locked, and the victim's car was still in the parking bay.
The resident then called security who, together with the deceased's sister and two other colleagues proceeded to the flat.
Ntabazalila said they knocked on the door and Ruiters, who was still wearing his yellow gloves, opened for them and told them that Volschenk had paid him to clean her flat.
He says at this point there were still some body parts in the flat and blood on the walls.
Police were called and Ruiters was arrested.
The State said In an earlier psychiatric report following an order of the Bellville Magistrates Court on 01 December 2022, Ruiters told psychiatrists that he was fascinated by serial killers, and he researched the topic extensively.
Among others, he researched Ted Bundy but was most fascinated with the Zodiac Killer who has never been caught.
The matter was postponed to the 9th of June.
