Farm massacre case postponed again

THE three men charged in connection with the massacre of eight people at a farm in the Kalkrand area in March last year face a further wait until early April before they might hear what the Prosecutor General has decided over the further course that their case would follow.

Sylvester Beukes (21), his elder brother, Gavin Beukes (24), and Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (28), the son of the two of the eight people that the two brothers are accused of having massacred at the farm Kareeboomkolk on March 5 last year, were once again together in the dock in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on Monday. They are now scheduled to return to court on April 3, after Magistrate Alweendo Venatius was asked to postpone their matter to give the Prosecutor General time to decide the future course of the prosecution against the trio – that is, whether the State would continue prosecuting them, what charges they would be facing, and in which court they would be put on trial.The case against the three has previously been postponed for the Prosecutor General’s decision, but further investigations have had to be done in the meantime.These, which included getting the results of DNA tests, have now been completed.The Beukes brothers are to remain in custody until the case returns to court.Erasmus remains free on N$20 000 bail, which was granted to him after he had spent a week in Police custody following his arrest ten days after his parents and six other people were shot to death at the Erasmus couple’s farm.Erasmus’s parents, Justus and Elzabé Erasmus, farmworkers Settie and Sonnyboy Swartbooi, who were brothers, the latter’s pregnant wife, Hilma Engelbrecht, her children, Christina Engelbrecht and Regina Gertze, and a nephew of Hilma Engelbrecht, Deon Gertze, all lost their lives when the two brothers allegedly carried out the largest mass killing in Namibia since Independence.At their first appearance in court following their arrest a day after the slayings, Sylvester Beukes admitted that he had shot the eight victims to death.His brother, he claimed, was a passive, captive, and unwilling spectator to the bloody spectacle.Sylvester Beukes claimed he carried out the killings because he wanted to take revenge against Erasmus for bad treatment that he claimed he had received from Erasmus while he worked for him in the past.About a week later, however, Beukes changed his tune and made a statement to the Police in which he claimed that Erasmus Jr had in fact asked him to kill his parents.He claimed Erasmus Jr had promised that Beukes was to receive some N$50 000 from life insurance payouts that were supposedly to be expected after the couple had died.Erasmus Jr was arrested and charged on the basis of that statement.He denied the charges against him when he gave his plea in court for the first time in September last year.They are now scheduled to return to court on April 3, after Magistrate Alweendo Venatius was asked to postpone their matter to give the Prosecutor General time to decide the future course of the prosecution against the trio – that is, whether the State would continue prosecuting them, what charges they would be facing, and in which court they would be put on trial.The case against the three has previously been postponed for the Prosecutor General’s decision, but further investigations have had to be done in the meantime.These, which included getting the results of DNA tests, have now been completed.The Beukes brothers are to remain in custody until the case returns to court.Erasmus remains free on N$20 000 bail, which was granted to him after he had spent a week in Police custody following his arrest ten days after his parents and six other people were shot to death at the Erasmus couple’s farm.Erasmus’s parents, Justus and Elzabé Erasmus, farmworkers Settie and Sonnyboy Swartbooi, who were brothers, the latter’s pregnant wife, Hilma Engelbrecht, her children, Christina Engelbrecht and Regina Gertze, and a nephew of Hilma Engelbrecht, Deon Gertze, all lost their lives when the two brothers allegedly carried out the largest mass killing in Namibia since Independence.At their first appearance in court following their arrest a day after the slayings, Sylvester Beukes admitted that he had shot the eight victims to death.His brother, he claimed, was a passive, captive, and unwilling spectator to the bloody spectacle.Sylvester Beukes claimed he carried out the killings because he wanted to take revenge against Erasmus for bad treatment that he claimed he had received from Erasmus while he worked for him in the past.About a week later, however, Beukes changed his tune and made a statement to the Police in which he claimed that Erasmus Jr had in fact asked him to kill his parents.He claimed Erasmus Jr had promised that Beukes was to receive some N$50 000 from life insurance payouts that were supposedly to be expected after the couple had died.Erasmus Jr was arrested and charged on the basis of that statement.He denied the charges against him when he gave his plea in court for the first time in September last year.