Cyntheria Rex’s life mattered and her family has the right to see justice. These are the words of Ilitha Labantu – which advocates for the rights of women and children – as the longest running murder case in a Regional Court in SA continues to drag.

A Cape Argus report says Rex was 17 when she was repeatedly raped and stabbed to death in Kraaifontein in 2009.

The case has been postponed nearly 130 times and is believed to be the longest-running trial in history in SA.

Virgil Sass, Oswill Grootboom, Imeraan Hendricks, Lee Cloete, and Rhonwan Rhode were convicted in November 2024 of Rex's murder, while two of the accused – Warren Robertson and Keenan Lewis – have since died.

A sentencing date was scheduled to be decided on 20 June – but instead news arrived that the judicial team were incapacitated, once again dashing the hopes of the family to see the end of the case.

The case was postponed to 11 July 2025. 

DA Member on the Select Committee on Security, Nicholas Gotsell, has since asked Minister of Justice & Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubay – in a National Assembly question session – why sentencing in the 16-year-old court case was not prioritised, and what interventions were made to finalise it.

Kubayi said the reasons for the delay were due to the accused and systematic reasons – relating to lawyers and Judicare, magistrate absenteeism, witnesses and typed court records.

Full Cape Argus report