Daniel Smith found guilty of murdering teenager Claver Jerobezhin van Wyk

A 58-year-old man accused of murdering teenager Claver Jerobedin van Wyk in February 2022 has been found guilty.

Daniel Smith was found guilty in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

He was found guilty of attempted murder, kidnapping, premeditated murder, abuse of a corpse and defeating the ends of justice.

Smith pleaded guilty to all five charges last week. He was also charged with careless and careless driving.

Teenager Claver killed after stealing fruit

Smith was accused of murdering a teenager after human remains were found in sewer pipes on his property.

Van Wyk was described as a respectful boy who loved football and did whatever tasks his parents gave him, but his life was cut short when he was broken into and killed. His body parts were then dumped in a drain in a small town in the Western Cape – stolen mangoes everywhere.

He played with friends in a small rural community known for its wine farms, mining and poverty.

However, a group of boys stopped at Smith’s property to pick mangoes from his tree. What should have been a nice snack turned into a terrifying chase after Smith chased the boys in his car and caught up with Jerobegin.

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Murder

During the trial, Smith said he took Jerobejin to his home, where he made the boy a sandwich and a cold drink before breaking the boy’s neck with moves he allegedly learned from some Chinese occultism he had been a part of years before.

Smith hid the body in a freezer until he cut up the body that night and then burned the parts.

The parts of the body that he could not burn were thrown into two drains and into a large blue drum in the yard.

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