WE'LL NEVER GET OVER IT

The car she was driving plunged off a mountain pass, killing her three great-grandkids – now she’s been charged with murder and her family are struggling to find closure

- MEGHAN LAWRENCE

IT’S a cold day in Worcester and snow is lying thick on the mountains that surround the Western Province town. Sarie de Villiers, dressed in shades of blue with a scarf wound round her neck, is waiting in the chilly hallway outside the local magistrate’s court.

Although she’s chatting to people seated on the bench alongside her, her face is pale.

She’s accused of killing her three young great-grandchildren, and she’s due back in court* for the next step of the process: her lawyer will be asking for a postponement so she can go for psychiatric evaluation. This can take about 30 days and the findings of the evaluation could be used in mitigation.

The people in this area of the Boland, who’ve long been baffled by the events of 20 November 2021, will have to wait a while longer for the trial to begin and answers to emerge.

Sarie is facing charges of murder with an additional charge of culpable homicide and negligent driving. The state believes she deliberately drove her car off the Bainskloof Pass that summer afternoon, causing the deaths of her great- grandsons, Calib (7), Gradwell (4) and Joshua Smit (18 months).

The car plunged nearly 80m down the mountainside into the river below and Sarie was the only survivor.

Her son, Carl Snr, had the grim task of identifying his grandchildren. “It was terrible,” he said at the time. “They looked as if they were sleeping.”

THE boys were visiting Carl Snr that day. Sarie and her husband, Ivan de Villiers, also live in the house and she was the one to take the children home at the end of their visit.

The kids had a great time playing in the garden and swimming in the pool and at about 4pm, Sarie piled the boys into the car to take them back to their dad Carl Jnr’s home in Groenheuwel in Paarl.