HE STOLE MY PEACE

The man believed to be the Station Strangler is out on parole - and the family of the boy he was convicted of killing is reliving their trauma

- COLIN HENDRICKS

SHE’S still haunted by that terrible day when she was called to identify the body of her 10­year­old nephew who’d been found in a shal­ low grave still wearing his school uniform. Elroy van Rooyen was one of 22 young boys murdered in a kill­ ing spree that sent shock waves across South Africa between 1986 and 1994. The boys were found dead on the Cape Flats after being raped and strangled.

Norman Afzal Simons (56) was con­victed of kidnapping and murdering Elroy and suspected of having commit­ ted the others, although Elroy’s was the only murder the state could pin on him.

He was sentenced to 35 years behind bars and qualified for parole after 28 years. In July he was released from Drakenstein Correctional Centre in Paarl, sparking a public outcry, and is reportedly living with a family member in Parow, Cape Town.

Old wounds have been reopened – and the mere thought of her nephew’s killer being given a measure of freedom is enough to reduce Florence Galant to tears.

“For a long time the pain was better, but now it feels as if Elroy went missing yesterday,” she tells YOU.

According to Candice Van Reenen, correctional services spokesperson in the Western Cape, the convicted child killer will be on parole for the rest of his life. His movements will be closely monitored and if he breaks any of his stringent parole conditions, he’ll go straight back to prison.

It’s cold comfort for Elroy’s family. Flor­ence (60) couldn’t sleep the night before he was released and had to take a tran­quilliser to calm her nerves. The know­ ledge that “the monster” who’d murdered little Elroy was out of jail robbed her of rest and continues to steal her peace.