Mom relives trauma of seeing son's dead body after car dragged him for 400m

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Cape Town - A single mother whose son died after being dragged for 400m by a car said the people who witnessed the horrific incident had to undergo psychiatric treatment. This was part of the impact statement read out by Augustine Saayman, 62, in aggravation of sentence for convicted murderer Myron Cruz, 25, in the Atlantis Regional Court. Cruz was convicted in September for the murder of Ashwin Saayman, 26, on December 16, 2016. Cruz initially denied that he held Saayman by the chest through the window of a car and pulled him for 400m along Mamre Main Road. His version was dismissed by two witnesses who said they saw how Cruz held the victim by the chest and pulled away with a car.

“I was inside the house when Ashwin’s girlfriend came running into the house screaming: ‘Mommy, Ashwin is lying in the street.’ I ran to my son.

“I will never forget how he looked. His toenails were gone. The flesh on his knees, arms and elbows was torn off, exposing his bones.

“My child was brain-dead. At the hospital, doctors told me there was nothing they could do for my son.

“My son didn’t say a word. Only tears rolled down his cheek before doctors removed the life support machines. How can any mother forget this?” the Saayman said.

A single mother whose son, Ashwin Saayman, died after being dragged for 400m by a car testified in aggravation of sentence for her son's convicted killer. Picture: Supplied

She added: “The worst part is that since the incident, the accused never came to me to say he is sorry. Throughout the trial he never showed any remorse. Even though he was found guilty for murdering my son, I still don’t know why killed my son.

“I want the court to send the convicted killer to jail for a very long time and the sentence must fit the brutal way he killed my son.”

Saayman told the court her son’s daughter was 2 years old when he was killed, and three years later, when she asked, ‘Granny, who killed my father?’ she didn’t have words to explain.

Cruz will be sentenced on Monday.

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