The body of Maria Vermaak, who was described as soft-spoken, gentle, kind and friendly, was found on the floor of the living room in her Luyt Street home by a neighbour.
She had been strangled with a telephone cord. Anna Kemp, 67, who lives across the street from Vermaak and stumbled across the murder scene, said she was relieved that someone had been caught.
“I hope he faces the full might of the law,” she said. Kemp found Vermaak’s body at about 5.30pm on February 23 when she went over to take her a plate of food.
“I didn’t expect to see what I saw – it was terrible, something that I will never forget,” she said at the time.
Kemp had lived across the street from Vermaak for the past 20 years and had been taking her meals daily as she had become increasingly frail over the past three years.
“It was a terrible way for her to go [and] I am very bitter about it,” Kemp said. Her sister, Maria Jonker, 62, who lives with her, said Vermaak was very friendly.
