Bethanie man guilty of killing, burning elderly farmer

A YOUNG farmworker from the Bethanie area who was accused of murdering and robbing an elderly farmer and then setting his victim’s corpse on fire has been convicted as charged in the High Court in Windhoek.

Acting Judge Simpson Mtambanengwe found Christo Niklaaste (21) guilty on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice on Thursday last week. Niklaaste is set to return to the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday next week for the start of the sentencing phase of his trial.Niklaaste’s trial started on February 10, when the young farm labourer offered guilty pleas to charges of attempting to defeat the course of justice, theft, and murder – but stopped short of admitting that he had a direct intention to kill 72-year-old farmer Johannes Harms Booysen in April 2003.Booysen’s burnt corpse was found in a more than two-metre-deep ditch near his house on his farm, Buchholtzbrunn, near Bethanie on May 1 2003.An autopsy later revealed that his skull had been fractured in two places – above his left ear and at the base of the skull.It was suspected that he had been killed and his body had then been dumped into the ditch and set alight sometime between April 17 and 28 2003.Niklaaste was arrested on May 19 2003.At the start of his trial, his lawyer, Christie Mostert, informed Acting Judge Mtambanengwe that Niklaaste was admitting that he had killed Booysen.In his plea, Niklaaste claimed he had gone to the farm to look for work, but met a hostile reception from Booysen, who he said accused him of having killed springbok at his farm.Niklaaste continued that when he denied the accusation, it led to a verbal altercation between him and Booysen.In this process, he claimed, Booysen took out a revolver but did not point it at him.Niklaaste got angry, and seeing a spade lying on the ground, grabbed it and hit the farmer on the head with “a forceful blow”, he admitted.STOLE ARRAY OF ITEMS He said he could not remember how many blows he inflicted, but admitted that this killed the farmer.He further admitted that he thereafter set the body on fire in an attempt to escape the consequences of the killing, and also entered Booysen’s house, from where he stole an array of items, including food, two pocket knives, a leather wallet, a wristwatch and a car battery.In the trial that ensued after Deputy Prosecutor-General Antonia Verhoef did not accept Niklaaste’s plea on the murder and robbery counts, the court heard testimony that Niklaaste had pointed out the crime scene to a Police officer, Inspector Hendrik Dry, after his arrest.He took the officer to two trees, one about 900 metres from the farmhouse, and the other about 170 to 180 metres from the house.SCENE OF ATTACK He had left his bicycle at the first tree before walking to the scene of the later attack on Booysen, and later left the bicycle under the second, closer tree, before again walking to the scene of the attack, Dry said Niklaaste had told him.The court also heard that neither of the trees is visible from the farmhouse, Acting Judge Mtambanengwe noted in his judgement.He commented: “The secretiveness of this strange behaviour by someone claiming to have gone to (Booysen’s) farm to look for employment, leads to the only reasonable inference that the accused had an evil intent in going to the farm.”Niklaaste’s actions – his leaving the bicycle some distance from the farmhouse before approaching twice on foot – indicate preparation, the Acting Judge also stated.”It would mean that the accused made a survey of the scene before confronting the deceased, and that he formed the intent to rob before he met the deceased, that the shifting of the bicycle was after (Niklaaste) found that (Booysen) could be robbed and it was done to facilitate the robbery.I agree that that was the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the facts,” Acting Judge Mtambanengwe found, motivating his guilty verdict on the aggravated robbery count.On the murder charge, he noted that Niklaaste, who did not testify in his own defence during the trial, admitted in his plea that he had used excessive force to hit Booysen with the spade.”If he had not formed the intention to kill the deceased, that action, and his subsequent action in dragging the deceased to the ditch and burning the body (…) becomes completely inexplicable except as the action of a man who deliberately went about a preconceived course of action,” Acting Judge Mtambanengwe also stated.”In those actions there is no element of panic as a result of a turn of unforeseen events or unintended result of consequences of his action,” he added as he arrived at a finding that the evidence showed that Niklaaste had a direct intent to murder Booysen.Niklaaste remains in custody.Niklaaste is set to return to the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday next week for the start of the sentencing phase of his trial.Niklaaste’s trial started on February 10, when the young farm labourer offered guilty pleas to charges of attempting to defeat the course of justice, theft, and murder – but stopped short of admitting that he had a direct intention to kill 72-year-old farmer Johannes Harms Booysen in April 2003.Booysen’s burnt corpse was found in a more than two-metre-deep ditch near his house on his farm, Buchholtzbrunn, near Bethanie on May 1 2003.An autopsy later revealed that his skull had been fractured in two places – above his left ear and at the base of the skull.It was suspected that he had been killed and his body had then been dumped into the ditch and set alight sometime between April 17 and 28 2003.Niklaaste was arrested on May 19 2003. At the start of his trial, his lawyer, Christie Mostert, informed Acting Judge Mtambanengwe that Niklaaste was admitting that he had killed Booysen.In his plea, Niklaaste claimed he had gone to the farm to look for work, but met a hostile reception from Booysen, who he said accused him of having killed springbok at his farm.Niklaaste continued that when he denied the accusation, it led to a verbal altercation between him and Booysen.In this process, he claimed, Booysen took out a revolver but did not point it at him.Niklaaste got angry, and seeing a spade lying on the ground, grabbed it and hit the farmer on the head with “a forceful blow”, he admitted.STOLE ARRAY OF ITEMS He said he could not remember how many blows he inflicted, but admitted that this killed the farmer.He further admitted that he thereafter set the body on fire in an attempt to escape the consequences of the killing, and also entered Booysen’s house, from where he stole an array of items, including food, two pocket knives, a leather wallet, a wristwatch and a car battery.In the trial that ensued after Deputy Prosecutor-General Antonia Verhoef did not accept Niklaaste’s plea on the murder and robbery counts, the court heard testimony that Niklaaste had pointed out the crime scene to a Police officer, Inspector Hendrik Dry, after his arrest.He took the officer to two trees, one about 900 metres from the farmhouse, and the other about 170 to 180 metres from the house.SCENE OF ATTACK He had left his bicycle at the first tree before walking to the scene of the later attack on Booysen, and later left the bicycle under the second, closer tree, before again walking to the scene of the attack, Dry said Niklaaste had told him.The court also heard that neither of the trees is visible from the farmhouse, Acting Judge Mtambanengwe noted in his judgement.He commented: “The secretiveness of this strange behaviour by someone claiming to have gone to (Booysen’s) farm to look for employment, leads to the only reasonable inference that the accused had an evil intent in going to the farm.”Niklaaste’s actions – his leaving the bicycle some distance from the farmhouse before approaching twice on foot – indicate preparation, the Acting Judge also stated.”It would mean that the accused made a survey of the scene before confronting the deceased, and that he formed the intent to rob before he met the deceased, that the shifting of the bicycle was after (Niklaaste) found that (Booysen) could be robbed and it was done to facilitate the robbery.I agree that that was the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the facts,” Acting Judge Mtambanengwe found, motivating his guilty verdict on the aggravated robbery count.On the murder charge, he noted that Niklaaste, who did not testify in his own defence during the trial, admitted in his plea that he had used excessive force to hit Booysen with the spade.”If he had not formed the intention to kill the deceased, that action, and his subsequent action in dragging the deceased to the ditch and burning the body (…) becomes completely inexplicable except as the action of a man who deliberately went about a preconceived course of action,” Acting Judge Mtambanengwe also stated.”In those actions there is no element of panic as a result of a turn of unforeseen events or unintended result of consequences of his action,” he added as he arrived at a finding that the evidence showed that Niklaaste had a direct intent to murder Booysen.Niklaaste remains in custody.