Brother is sentenced after confessing to killing sister

HERMAN du Toit, 63, who confessed to the murder of his older sister at the Newton Court flats in New Park, Kimberley, was sentenced to an effective four years' imprisonment by the Northern Cape High Court this week.

- SANDI KWON HOO

He was arrested in Mossel Bay in July 2025, nearly five years after the brutal assault, during a joint operation involving the Da Gamaskop and Mossel Bay SAPS, the Western Cape Sea Border Unit, and Northern Cape tracking specialists.

The postmortem results indicated that his sister died after choking on her blood as well as from blunt force trauma.

His legal representative, Heinrich Steynburg, indicated that his client was remorseful and never intended to kill his sister, Ellen Lorraine Botha, on February 16, 2020.

He added that Du Toit handed himself over to the authorities following the incident, but that no efforts were made to prosecute him or finalise the matter.

"The matter was left hanging over his head," Steynburg said.

He stated that Du Toit had been residing with his sister when the police raided their flat.