Marleen Konings: The Missing Dutch Girl

A dejected Ferdinandt Mostert didn't want to speak in mitigation of his sentence. The judge told him that it would be in his best interest to say something.

According to Die Burger of February 11, 2005, Mostert replied that "I believe everybody is responsible for what they do. We must stop making excuses. I made mistakes, but have to pay for it in an unfair way. I decided not to testify, because I wouldn't be able to prove anything. It's difficult to testify if you've got no evidence. It's like digging your own grave. But everything that happened was because of circumstances."

Victim impact statements represent a pertinent and welcome addition to democratic justice systems which frequently seem more geared towards setting the accused free than acquiring justice for the victims of violent crime. Judge Van Reenen allowed all the remaining members of the Konings family to speak. Some of their words were quoted in a second article in Die Burger of February 11, 2005.

Konings family at the trial.

Marleen's father, Edwin, asked the judge to "please remove him from society and let him spend the rest of his life in prison ... Just the thought that he might commit the same crimes in the future is unbearable."

Marleen's mother, Jose, was very sad when she spoke. "When your child dies, something inside you dies as well. A part of your identity is torn apart and it creates a hole. No loss in the world is crueler than being forced to live without your child. We couldn't even say goodbye in a civilized manner. We weren't supposed to say goodbye to her. We miss her."

Marleen's sister, Lotte, said that Marleen "always thought twice before she did something. Her only mistake was to trust a man who had ulterior motives with her."

In Die Burger of February 12, 2005, Mr Justice Van Reenen told Mostert that he was "a person against whom society must be protected. The only way to do so is to remove you from it for a very long time." Mostert was emotional, but it was too late. The judge described the murder of Marleen as "brutal, cruel and callous", according to Independent On-Line of February 11, 2005. He believed the act to have been premeditated, and mentioned the lies Mostert told to both her friends and family as well as those of Michael John Victor.

Mostert received a life sentence for Marleen Konings' murder plus 15 years for the robbery of her possessions. For Michael John Victor's murder, he received 20 years. Another 46 years were added for the other charges. The sentences would be carried out concurrently.

Ferdinandt Mostert will be eligible for parole again in 25 years. Hopefully, if the Parole Board is still too gullible or uninformed or incompetent to deny him his freedom, the 70-year-old man will be too feeble to destroy another life.