The man accused of murdering two young girls in Albertinia in 2022 received two life sentences in the Western Cape division of the High Court in George.
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Timothy Ova (54) was sentenced on Thursday, 11 April for the murder of nine-year-old Jacorene Vaaltyn and 10-year-old Sharon Arries.
According to police spokesperson Sergeant Christopher Spies, the two girls were reported missing by one of their guardians on 22 September, 2022 around 8am after they did not return home the previous night.
‘A search party was immediately established and commenced with a search. At about 6:30pm. The same day, police members responded to a report of community members who were busy accosting a resident at his premises situated at Jan Fiskaal Street in Albertinia,’ says Spies.
‘Upon arrival, the members found that the man had fled the scene on foot. However, during a search of the premises, the community discovered the bodies of the two girls wrapped in cloths, one under the bed and the other in a blue container in the backyard dwelling belonging to the man.’
According to the autopsy report, the girls died from suffocation.
On Friday, 23 September 2022, Langeberg K-9 members on patrol in the rural part of Albertinia spotted a suspicious man on the old ‘Vloerplaas’ road around 5pm. He was busy exiting bushes adjacent to the road.
As he fit the description of the wanted man, the K9 members approached him and arrested him on the murder charges.
Ova was found guilty on the following counts:
- Count one: Murder of Sharon Arries, life imprisonment
- Count two: Murder of Jacorene Vaaltyn, life imprisonment
- Count three: Illegal possession of ammunition, two months imprisonment
- Count four: Defeating or obstructing the administration of justice, five months imprisonment
- Count five: Indecent assault, six months imprisonment
All sentences concerning counts two and five will run concurrently with the life imprisonment sentence.
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Picture: @Grant Durr / Unsplash