Mother demands justice as sentencing of woman’s killer is delayed

The mother of a man stabbed to death has urged the court to impose the harshest punishment on his killer after a pre-sentencing report delayed the hearing. Marina Henderson spoke on Wednesday as she waited for the sentencing of Antoinette Maritz, who was found guilty of the premeditated murder of her son, Wayne Henderson, and of the assault of Marina.

Sentencing pushed to July

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria postponed Maritz’s sentencing because the pre-sentencing report was not ready. She will now be sentenced on July 21.

What the court found

The court rejected Maritz’s denials that she played a part in the crime and found her guilty of premeditated murder. The court heard that Maritz and her former lover, Johan George Pratt, conspired to kill Wayne.

According to the court record, on the evening of November 5, 2023, Maritz opened the gate of the Suiderberg, Pretoria house she shared with Wayne and his mother and allowed Pratt to enter through a back window. Pratt then assaulted Wayne while he slept and stabbed him multiple times. The pair dragged Wayne’s body to another room and hid until morning.

Attack on the victim’s mother and disposal of the body

At dawn, the court heard, Pratt assaulted Marina with an ashtray, striking her three times on the head, tied her up and took her belongings. The pair then loaded Wayne’s body into his mother’s vehicle, drove to a remote veld in Standerton and dumped it before fleeing.

Pratt was sentenced last year to 30 years’ imprisonment for his role in Wayne’s killing and for the attempted murder of his mother.

A mother’s response

Marina told the court she was devastated by the delay and that, while her physical wounds had healed, the emotional scars remain.

“I did not even realise this when I was being attacked on the head the next morning with an ashtray,”

She said she suspected Pratt and Maritz had resumed a previous relationship and that she had heard her son and Maritz arguing before the murder, though she did not hear anything on the night Wayne was killed.

Marina said she had expected Maritz to be sentenced on Wednesday and had hoped to put the matter behind her.

“I am still living in the same house where my son was murdered, but the day she is sentenced, I will make plans to move.”

Asked about Maritz, Marina said she had liked her and regarded her as a soft, kind person, but that she wanted to see justice done.

“I am sorry things turned out this way. I actually liked her (Maritz). I got to know her as a soft, kind person. I have no idea what happened to trigger this tragedy.”

Marina also said she wanted the harshest punishment for Maritz, saying she was sorry the woman would go to prison but that “she has to pay for what she has done.”