The man convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering eight-year-old Tazné van Wyk in 2020, Moyhdian Pangkaeker, has reportedly died in his cell at the Brandvlei Maximum Centre.
The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) confirmed that Pangkaeker was discovered by officials on Tuesday.
Pangkaeker was serving a life sentence for a number of offences, including seven counts of rape, five counts of assault, five counts of common assault, one count of corpse violation, and one count of murder.
According to the department, Pangkaeker died in his sleep.
Pangkaeker was convicted and sentenced in 2023, after pleading not guilty on all charges.
The department’s statement did not offer further detail on Pangkaeker’s cause of death, beyond noting that he died in his sleep. Authorities have indicated that all proper protocols were followed in notifying his next of kin.
Eight-year-old Tazné was found dead in a stormwater pipe outside Worcester, two weeks after she disappeared from her street in Connaught Estate, Elsies River, on 7 February 2020.
Pangkaeker was arrested on 17 February 2020 in Cradock in the Eastern Cape.
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