'Shoelace killer' who was given ‘second chance’ after murder conviction strangles 4 family members
PIETERMARITZBURG, SOUTH AFRICA: A South African man, who had been given a "second chance" by a judge as a teen after a murder conviction in 2004, sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of killing four of his family members in December 2017.
Wesley Neil Julyan, 32, was accused of murdering of his brother Jeffery Julyan, 34, Jeffery’s son Ethan, 9, Jeffery’s step-daughter Kayla McKenna, 16, and Jeffery’s father-in-law Peter McKenna, 73, according to Times Live.
Julyan had reportedly been at odds with his brother over items of property which had been removed from the house in Mtwalume and were being kept in Jeffrey's home in Umtentweni.
The 32-year-old had lived at the Mtwalume home previously before his father, who had owned it, had sold it.
Prosecutors said that, on December 9, 2017, Julyan ambushed and attacked Jeffrey, his children, and his father-in-law when they came back to the house to return some of the items.
Jeffrey was assaulted with a pick-handle and strangled with a rope, Ethan and Peter were both strangled with a copper ligature, and Kayla was strangled with a dog chain. Their bodies were then dumped inside the house, which was set alight.
Julyan was made the primary suspect because of the manner of their deaths.
When he was 18, he had earned the nickname of 'shoelace killer' over a 2004 incident where he and his friend Jacob Strauss, then 21, strangled Mtwalume motorist Ken van Aardt, 51, who had stopped to help them when their car broke down.
They had strangled van Aardt with a shoelace, buried his body in a shallow grave, and then stolen his car.
The incident had made international headlines and was referred to as the "SMS murder" after Strauss sent a text message in which he confessed to the murder to his girlfriend, who was living in the UK.
Despite the heinousness of the crime, a high court judge accepted psychological evidence that was presented by the defense on Julyan's behalf which stated that he had a "borderline" personality disorder and could be rehabilitated through psychotherapy.
He was subsequently sentenced to an effective 13 years' imprisonment but was released on parole in 2009 after serving just five years.
However, there would be no such leniency this time around.
Julyan, who maintained his innocence throughout, was found guilty of the four murders at the Pietermaritzburg Mtunzini high court on Aug 5.
On Aug 6, he was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment, one for each count of first-degree murder, as well as another five years for arson. The sentences will run concurrently.