“The pain is unimaginable; I will never be able to fully describe or express it.”
These are the words of Lida Nel, whose grade 10 daughter Deveney was murdered by a teenage classmate at Overberg High School in August 2024.
On Friday, the high court in Cape Town sentenced the youth, now 18, to 25 years’ direct imprisonment for murder and a further 12 months for defeating the ends of justice. The sentences will run concurrently.
Deveney was 16 when she was killed. Her classmate, then 17, entered a plea and sentencing agreement with the state. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the youth confessed to trying to hide Deveney’s body after killing her.
In the plea agreement, he said he had been on first aid duty during a school sports event on August 7 2024. A level 3 advanced first aid emergency responder and senior member of the school’s first aid team, he said Deveney, a fellow team member and friend, had agreed to assist him at the netball courts.
“Around 3:45pm he asked if she would assist at the netball courts, and she agreed. He accompanied her,” said Ntabazalila.
“He claims they became intimate in the school’s storeroom and she told him after that she had cheated on her new boyfriend with him. He did not know she had a boyfriend and this made him upset. He throttled her and she became weak and fell to the ground. He took out a knife from his jacket pocket and stabbed her in the neck and chest, aiming for her major arteries. He stabbed her four times — twice in the neck and twice in the chest. She fought back and then became still.”
He checked her pulse and found no signs of life. He hid her body in the storeroom, dragged it along the floor, then took her cellphone and placed it in the back of a bakkie in the parking lot to mislead anyone looking for her.
“The deceased was supposed to get a lift home with her mother. People started looking for her, and he assisted in the search,” said Ntabazalila.
“Police joined the search, recovered her cellphone and later found her body in the storeroom. A few days later, he told police what had happened in the presence of his mother.”
In aggravation of sentence, prosecutor advocate Leon Snyman said Deveney was killed at school — “a place where children are supposed to be safe”. He said the teenager used excessive violence, stabbing her with such force that her left lung collapsed and the knife pierced her heart.
“The motivation offered for the killing is indicative of toxic masculinity,” said Snyman.
“The high level of disregard for human life shown at such a young age by the accused is worrisome. The family of the deceased is traumatised by the offence, and her mother will never fully recover from this loss. There is a public outcry against violent crime against women in South Africa. Gender violence is a pandemic affecting our society.”
The youth was declared unfit to own a firearm.
Nel’s victim impact statement was submitted to the court as part of sentencing. She said her daughter was “brutally, deliberately and cold-bloodedly murdered”.
“For me, there are no mitigating circumstances. Murder is the worst thing anyone can do. Still, some days I think to myself that what happened cannot be true, because how can anyone think of hurting another so much that it causes their death,” she said.
“As a person, I have lost my husband — the person I chose to love and spend my life with — and my father, one of the people who loved me since my birth. But losing your daughter to another’s hand is the most painful pain that can exist in a parent’s life. The pain is unimaginable; I will never be able to fully describe or express it.”
Nel described Deveney as gentle, loving and empathetic.
“She always put others’ feelings above her own, stood up for what is right and wrong, and had her whole life ahead of her. She wanted to study further and help others, but one monster cut her life short and caused an immense amount of sorrow that he will never understand,” she said.
Nel said she had always wanted two children and was blessed with two daughters who shared a deep bond. She said Deveney’s younger sister had lost not only her sibling but also a lifelong companion, leaving an irreplaceable void in her life and the future they were meant to share.
“The incident brought my whole life to a standstill, as well as (Deveney’s younger sister), my mother’s, and our friends and family’s,” Nel said.
Nel said she was dependent on sleeping pills, which affected her work and relationships. She said the murder had severely affected her concentration and ability to engage with others.
“I don’t think you can ever function normally again after something like that. I am struggling a lot and don’t know if I will ever be OK again,” she said.
“When you read through the reports, my daughter suffered severe injuries. She was attacked and stabbed to death. She must have been terrified and alone. Parents are supposed to grow old and see their children blossom and succeed. Parents are not supposed to outlive their children.
“My daughter would have cared for me when I could no longer do so. The actions of the accused have forever changed my life.”
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