Marina Henderson has one message for the woman who helped kill her son: you must pay for what you did.
The mother of Wayne Henderson spoke out on Wednesday as she waited for the sentencing of Antoinette Maritz in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. But the hearing was postponed because the pre-sentencing report wasn't ready. Maritz will now be sentenced on July 21.
"I'm sorry things turned out this way. I actually liked her," Marina said. "I got to know her as a soft, kind person. I've no idea what happened to trigger this tragedy."
But she's clear on what should happen next. "While I'm sorry the woman has to go to prison, she has to pay for what she's done," Marina said.
Here's what the court found: On the night of November 5, 2023, Maritz opened the gate of the house in Suiderberg, Pretoria, that she shared with Wayne and his mother. She let her ex-boyfriend, Johan George Pratt, enter through a back window.
Pratt went to Wayne's bedroom and stabbed him multiple times while he slept. The pair then dragged his body to another room and hid until morning.
At dawn, the violence got worse. Pratt hit Marina on the head three times with an ashtray, tied her up, and stole her belongings. Then he and Maritz loaded Wayne's body into his mother's car, drove to a remote veld in Standerton, and dumped it before fleeing.
Pratt was sentenced last year to 30 years in prison for murder and attempted murder. Maritz denied any part in the crime, but the court rejected her claims and found her guilty of premeditated murder.
No clear motive was given for the killing. But Marina suspects Pratt and Maritz had rekindled their relationship. She said she heard Wayne and Maritz arguing before the murder.
Marina didn't hear anything on the night of the killing. She was asleep in her upstairs bedroom while her son was being killed downstairs. "I didn't even realise this when I was being attacked on the head the next morning with an ashtray," she said.
She thinks she was attacked because Pratt and Maritz didn't want her to know Pratt was in the house. But she'd never seen him before and didn't see him that night.
Marina said she'd prepared herself to see Maritz go to jail on Wednesday. "I just hoped that I could put this matter behind me," she said.
She's still living in the same house where her son was murdered. But once Maritz is sentenced, she plans to move.
Marina's physical scars from the ashtray attack have healed. But the emotional scars are still raw. Nothing will bring her son back, but she wants to see justice done.