Ricardo Gysman was found guilty of killing the young girl and hiding her corpse in a toilet in the Withoogter slum.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) provincial spokesman, Luxolo Tyali, claimed that Gysman had raped the child before killing her.
On November 10, a 50-year-old woman was traveling to see a friend close to her house in the Gqeberha neighborhood’s Brakkenfontein informal settlement on Rocklands Roads.
After passing Gysman’s house, she continued walking when she heard someone approaching from behind her.
Gysman grabbed the lady and pushed her to the ground, according to testimony given in court. If she shrieked, he would stab her to death with the knife he was holding. She was sexually assaulted by him.
After her ordeal, she stayed motionless on the ground and didn’t get up until she assumed Gysman had dozed off in his shack. She then walked home without her underwear or pants on.
As it was late, “she slept, and the next morning she told her friend about it, and then she told the police, which led to the arrest of Gysman, who was connected to the crime through DNA,” Tyali said.
On the evening of August 2, 2019, a 5-year-old girl went missing while she was sleeping in her home in the Withoogter informal settlement, the same place where Gysman had done his previous crime, while he was on bail for the vicious rape.
The child’s mother had left her at home with her 9-year-old cousin while she went to see a friend.
The following day, the child’s corpse was found inside a bathroom.
Gysman was seen in the same home as the young girl on the night she vanished, leading the locals to quickly accuse him of the murder.
He was detained after the police were summoned.
Gysman maintained his innocence despite being connected via DNA to the two cases of rape and the murder of the 5-year-old. However, the court discovered that Gysman frequently changed his account of the events during Advocate Ismat Cerfontein’s cross-examination, said Tyali.
Gysman received a life term for killing the young girl.