Contract killing connection in farm massacre grows stronger

THE Kareeboomkolk farm massacre of eight people in March last year was the result of a contract killing initiated by the son of two of the murder victims, the Prosecutor General is charging.

Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (28), the height-challenged son of slain part-time farmers Justus Christiaan Erasmus and Elzabé Erasmus, first conspired in 2003 to have not only his parents, but also his sister, Yolande Erasmus, killed, the Prosecutor General alleges in a 32-page indictment that was disclosed to Erasmus (Jnr) and three co-accused in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court yesterday. FACING 15 CHARGES The PG has decided to continue with the charges that were first levelled against Erasmus after his arrest on March 15 last year, Erasmus and his co-accused – Sylvester Beukes (21), the latter’s brother, Gavin Beukes (24), and Stoney Raymond Neidel (29) – were informed when the four made their first joint appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court yesterday.Neidel was arrested only on Friday last week.The four have to make a first pre-trial appearance in the High Court in Windhoek, where they will be tried, on May 18, they were told.According to the indictment disclosed yesterday, they will be facing 15 charges in all at their trial – eight counts of murder, a charge of housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, another charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and counts of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, arson, theft, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.The indictment reveals hitherto unknown details of the charges against the four.These include an allegation that Erasmus had conspired with Sylvester Beukes during 2003 already to murder not only Erasmus’s parents, but also his only sister.Erasmus allegedly undertook to supply Beukes with a firearm to commit the planned murders, but this plan was not set in motion during either 2003 or 2004, the indictment states.During September 2004, Erasmus Snr opened a criminal case with charges of stock theft, theft of petrol and theft of a Mazda bakkie against Sylvester Beukes and another two people, the charges sheet also states.These charges were claimed to have been committed at farm Kareeboomkolk at a time when Beukes was employed there.Beukes was released on bail on December 1 2004, after his brother, Gavin, had paid the bail.During December 2004, following his release, Beukes and Erasmus Jnr met in Windhoek and arranged to meet again in the city at the end of January, it is further alleged in the charge sheet.Then, from December 2004, it is claimed, the two brothers and Neidel started conspiring that the loot that was to be obtained through the planned crimes that were to be committed at Kareeboomkolk would be transported to the farm Areb in the Rehoboth district to be hidden or to be kept under the guise that it belonged to Neidel.On January 31 last year, a key event took place in the run-up to the alleged planned contract killing that was to turn into the largest murder case in the history of independent Namibia, it is charged.On that date, Erasmus Jnr and Sylvester Beukes again met in Windhoek, and Erasmus handed a revolver, his father’s firearm licence and a box containing an unknown number of .38 calibre bullets to Beukes, the PG is charging in the indictment.Beukes and his brother went to Kareeboomkolk on March 4, it is further alleged.There, they are accused of breaking into the farmhouse and removing two rifles and ammunition from a safe.Also, during the course of that day, they turned their attentions to five of the eventual victims of the massacre: the pregnant Hilma Engelbrecht (32), her daughters Christina Engelbrecht (6) and Regina Gertze (4), her nephew Deon Gertze (18), and her brother-in-law, Settie Swartbooi (50), the indictment relates.SHOT, SET ALIGHT All of them were shot dead, and their bodies were thereafter doused with a flammable substance, set alight, and almost completely incinerated, it is claimed.On March 5, the two brothers lured the Erasmus couple from Windhoek to the farm by ordering the farm foreman, Sunnybooi Swartbooi (35), to contact them and report an accident to them, the indictment reads further.The couple, who were both 50 years old, arrived at the farm that afternoon.”The accused shot them and both died on the scene due to gunshot wounds,” the indictment states.It continues that the two brothers thereafter ordered Swartbooi to help them load all the items stolen from the farm – these are listed on 13 typewritten pages – onto the couple’s bakkie and a trailer.With that task completed, the brothers tied Swartbooi to a chair and executed him too, it is alleged.During or after these crimes were committed, the brothers phoned Neidel on Gavin Beukes’s cellphone and on the cellphone of the murdered Erasmus Snr, it is further charged in the indictment.They allegedly also placed Gavin Beukes’s cellphone SIM card into the murdered man’s phone.Some of the items stolen from the farm were offloaded at Neidel’s home on the evening of March 5 last year, while the rest was later offloaded at the farm Areb, before the Erasmus couple’s stolen bakkie was abandoned in the Windhoek district, it is further charged.The indictment concludes with an allegation that all four suspects had at all relevant times acted with a common purpose.Sylvester Beukes claimed with his and his brother’s first appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on March 9 last year that he had killed all eight people who were shot dead at Kareeboomkolk.His explanation then was that he had wanted to take revenge against Mr Erasmus for perceived wrongs that he felt had been perpetrated against him in the past.Less than a week later, however, Beukes made a sworn statement to the Police in which he claimed that Erasmus Jnr had asked him to kill the couple, with a promise that he was to receive a N$50 000 share from insurance-policy payouts after the couple’s deaths.Erasmus Jnr has denied these charges – but from the indictment revealed yesterday, it is clear that the Prosecutor General believes there is evidence implicating him in the murders.Erasmus is the only one of the suspects free on bail.Magistrate Alweendo Venatius informed the other three suspects during yesterday’s court appearance that they would be transferred to the Windhoek Central Prison in anticipation of their first appearance in the High Court.The indictment lists 66 people as potential witnesses.Yolande Erasmus is one of the witnesses.FACING 15 CHARGES The PG has decided to continue with the charges that were first levelled against Erasmus after his arrest on March 15 last year, Erasmus and his co-accused – Sylvester Beukes (21), the latter’s brother, Gavin Beukes (24), and Stoney Raymond Neidel (29) – were informed when the four made their first joint appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court yesterday.Neidel was arrested only on Friday last week.The four have to make a first pre-trial appearance in the High Court in Windhoek, where they will be tried, on May 18, they were told. According to the indictment disclosed yesterday, they will be facing 15 charges in all at their trial – eight counts of murder, a charge of housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, another charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and counts of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, arson, theft, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.The indictment reveals hitherto unknown details of the charges against the four.These include an allegation that Erasmus had conspired with Sylvester Beukes during 2003 already to murder not only Erasmus’s parents, but also his only sister.Erasmus allegedly undertook to supply Beukes with a firearm to commit the planned murders, but this plan was not set in motion during either 2003 or 2004, the indictment states.During September 2004, Erasmus Snr opened a criminal case with charges of stock theft, theft of petrol and theft of a Mazda bakkie against Sylvester Beukes and another two people, the charges sheet also states.These charges were claimed to have been committed at farm Kareeboomkolk at a time when Beukes was employed there.Beukes was released on bail on December 1 2004, after his brother, Gavin, had paid the bail.During December 2004, following his release, Beukes and Erasmus Jnr met in Windhoek and arranged to meet again in the city at the end of January, it is further alleged in the charge sheet.Then, from December 2004, it is claimed, the two brothers and Neidel started conspiring that the loot that was to be obtained through the planned crimes that were to be committed at Kareeboomkolk would be transported to the farm Areb in the Rehoboth district to be hidden or to be kept under the guise that it belonged to Neidel.On January 31 last year, a key event took place in the run-up to the alleged planned contract killing that was to turn into the largest murder case in the history of independent Namibia, it is charged.On that date, Erasmus Jnr and Sylvester Beukes again met in Windhoek, and Erasmus handed a revolver, his father’s firearm licence and a box containing an unknown number of .38 calibre bullets to Beukes, the PG is charging in the indictment.Beukes and his brother went to Kareeboomkolk on March 4, it is further alleged.There, they are accused of breaking into the farmhouse and removing two rifles and ammunition from a safe.Also, during the course of that day, they turned their attentions to five of the eventual victims of the massacre: the pregnant Hilma Engelbrecht (32), her daughters Christina Engelbrecht (6) and Regina Gertze (4), her nephew Deon Gertze (18), and her brother-in-law, Settie Swartbooi (50), the indictment relates.SHOT, SET ALIGHT All of them were shot dead, and their bodies were thereafter doused with a flammable substance, set alight, and almost completely incinerated, it is claimed.On March 5, the two brothers lured the Erasmus couple from Windhoek to the farm by ordering the farm foreman, Sunnybooi Swartbooi (35), to contact them and report an accident to them, the indictment reads further.The couple, who were both 50 years old, arrived at the farm that afternoon.”The accused shot them and both died on the scene due to gunshot wounds,” the indictment states.It continues that the two brothers thereafter ordered Swartbooi to help them load all the items stolen from the farm – these are listed on 13 typewritten pages – onto the couple’s bakkie and a trailer.With that task completed, the brothers tied Swartbooi to a chair and executed him too, it is alleged.During or after these crimes were committed, the brothers phoned Neidel on Gavin Beukes’s cellphone and on the cellphone of the murdered Erasmus Snr, it is further charged in the indictment.They allegedly also placed Gavin Beukes’s cellphone SIM card into the murdered man’s phone.Some of the items stolen from the farm were offloaded at Neidel’s home on the evening of March 5 last year, while the rest was later offloaded at the farm Areb, before the Erasmus couple’s stolen bakkie was abandoned in the Windhoek district, it is further charged.The indictment concludes with an allegation that all four suspects had at all relevant times acted with a common purpose.Sylvester Beukes claimed with his and his brother’s first appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on March 9 last year that he had killed all eight people who were shot dead at Kareeboomkolk.His explanation then was that he had wanted to take revenge against Mr Erasmus for perceived wrongs that he felt had been perpetrated against him in the past.Less than a week later, however, Beukes made a sworn statement to the Police in which he claimed that Erasmus Jnr had asked him to kill the couple, with a promise that he was to receive a N$50 000 share from insurance-policy payouts after the couple’s deaths.Erasmus Jnr has denied these charges – but from the indictment revealed yesterday, it is clear that the Prosecutor General believes there is evidence implicating him in the murders.Erasmus is the only one of the suspects free on bail.Magistrate Alweendo Venatius informed the other three suspects during yesterday’s court appearance that they would be transferred to the Windhoek Central Prison in anticipation of their first appearance in the High Court.The indictment lists 66 people as potential witnesses.Yolande Erasmus is one of the witnesses.