Farm massacre trial makes shaky return

THE third anniversary of the Kareeboomvloer farm massacre will pass today with the trial of the four men being prosecuted in connection with the eightfold slayings at the farm once again in limbo until at least Monday next week.

Multiple murder suspects Sylvester Beukes (23), his brother, Gavin Beukes (26), Stoney Neidel (31) and Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (30) face 15 charges, including eight counts of murder. The trial was scheduled to continue before Judge President Petrus Damaseb in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.The last proceedings took place on October 31 last year, when defence lawyer Winnie Christians, who was representing the Beukes brothers and Neidel, announced to the Judge President that he had to withdraw from the case because Neidel had indicated to him that he thought it would be better if he was represented by another lawyer.Three defence lawyers have in the meantime been instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid to take Christians’s place.Yesterday, though, Sylvester Beukes came close to sending the lawyer instructed to represent him, Titus Ipumbu, packing again.Beukes was dissatisfied by Ipumbu’s failure to consult with him from the time that Ipumbu came on record as representing Beukes on November 22 until Monday this week, when Ipumbu first went to see Beukes in prison to consult with him.According to Ipumbu, he had been reading the trial record and documentation disclosed to him by the prosecution from the time that he received instructions to represent Beukes until he eventually scheduled a two-hour consultation session with Beukes on Monday.When he and Beukes then met, Beukes refused to go through the consultation and told Ipumbu that he had already written to the Directorate of Legal Aid to ask that another counsel be instructed to represent him, Ipumbu told the Judge President.Yesterday morning, Beukes was still insisting that he wanted his defence counsel to be changed, Ipumbu said.Judge President Damaseb was informed of this turn of events when Ipumbu, Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef, and defence lawyers Boris Isaacks, now representing Neidel, and Titus Mbaeva, now appearing for Gavin Beukes, went to see him in his chambers before the first proceedings in the trial in more than four months could begin yesterday.In open court afterwards, the Judge President told Sylvester Beukes that he had told Ipumbu that he could understand Beukes’s frustration, since Beukes faces very serious allegations and it was important that he should feel he was getting sufficient attention from his lawyer.Judge President Damaseb told Beukes that he could be given more time to consult with Ipumbu if he wanted to, and that he also had to keep in mind that if he insisted that he wanted to be represented by another lawyer, it would still be up to the Director of Legal Aid to first decide whether another counsel should be instructed to take over Beukes’s defence.Having heard the Judge President’s comments, Beukes indicated that he was willing to have Ipumbu represent him – but after having had proper consultations with the lawyer.The Judge President postponed the trial to Monday to give Beukes and Ipumbu time to do this.Verhoef is expected to continue presenting evidence on behalf of the prosecution to the court when the trial continues.The four charged men are accused of being involved in the murder of eight people at farm Kareeboomvloer between Rehoboth and Kalkrand from March 4 to 5 2005.The State alleges that Erasmus recruited Sylvester Beukes to carry out a plan to kill Erasmus’s parents, who owned the farm where the killings took place.Erasmus’s parents, Justus and Elzabé Erasmus (both 50) were shot dead after they had driven from Windhoek, where they lived, to the farm on March 5 2005.Six people living at the farm were also killed on that day or the previous day.They were an employee of the Erasmus couple, Sunnybooi Swartbooi (35), his wife, Hilma Engelbrecht (32), who was about seven to eight months pregnant when she was killed, the couple’s six-year-old daughter, Christina Engelbrecht, their four-year-old daughter, Regina Gertze, Swartbooi’s elder brother, Settie Swartbooi (50), and Engelbrecht’s nephew, Deon Gertze (18).All four men pleaded not guilty to all charges when their trial started on March 1 last year.By April 4, however, Christians placed it on record that Sylvester Beukes admitted that he had killed all eight people that lost their lives at the farm three years ago.The Beukes brothers have been in Police custody since being arrested at their home at Rehoboth on March 6 2005.Erasmus and Neidel are free on bail.The trial was scheduled to continue before Judge President Petrus Damaseb in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.The last proceedings took place on October 31 last year, when defence lawyer Winnie Christians, who was representing the Beukes brothers and Neidel, announced to the Judge President that he had to withdraw from the case because Neidel had indicated to him that he thought it would be better if he was represented by another lawyer.Three defence lawyers have in the meantime been instructed by the Directorate of Legal Aid to take Christians’s place.Yesterday, though, Sylvester Beukes came close to sending the lawyer instructed to represent him, Titus Ipumbu, packing again.Beukes was dissatisfied by Ipumbu’s failure to consult with him from the time that Ipumbu came on record as representing Beukes on November 22 until Monday this week, when Ipumbu first went to see Beukes in prison to consult with him. According to Ipumbu, he had been reading the trial record and documentation disclosed to him by the prosecution from the time that he received instructions to represent Beukes until he eventually scheduled a two-hour consultation session with Beukes on Monday.When he and Beukes then met, Beukes refused to go through the consultation and told Ipumbu that he had already written to the Directorate of Legal Aid to ask that another counsel be instructed to represent him, Ipumbu told the Judge President.Yesterday morning, Beukes was still insisting that he wanted his defence counsel to be changed, Ipumbu said.Judge President Damaseb was informed of this turn of events when Ipumbu, Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef, and defence lawyers Boris Isaacks, now representing Neidel, and Titus Mbaeva, now appearing for Gavin Beukes, went to see him in his chambers before the first proceedings in the trial in more than four months could begin yesterday.In open court afterwards, the Judge President told Sylvester Beukes that he had told Ipumbu that he could understand Beukes’s frustration, since Beukes faces very serious allegations and it was important that he should feel he was getting sufficient attention from his lawyer.Judge President Damaseb told Beukes that he could be given more time to consult with Ipumbu if he wanted to, and that he also had to keep in mind that if he insisted that he wanted to be represented by another lawyer, it would still be up to the Director of Legal Aid to first decide whether another counsel should be instructed to take over Beukes’s defence.Having heard the Judge President’s comments, Beukes indicated that he was willing to have Ipumbu represent him – but after having had proper consultations with the lawyer.The Judge President postponed the trial to Monday to give Beukes and Ipumbu time to do this.Verhoef is expected to continue presenting evidence on behalf of the prosecution to the court when the trial continues.The four charged men are accused of being involved in the murder of eight people at farm Kareeboomvloer between Rehoboth and Kalkrand from March 4 to 5 2005.The State alleges that Erasmus recruited Sylvester Beukes to carry out a plan to kill Erasmus’s parents, who owned the farm where the killings took place.Erasmus’s parents, Justus and Elzabé Erasmus (both 50) were shot dead after they had driven from Windhoek, where they lived, to the farm on March 5 2005.Six people living at the farm were also killed on that day or the previous day.They were an employee of the Erasmus couple, Sun
nybooi Swartbooi (35), his wife, Hilma Engelbrecht (32), who was about seven to eight months pregnant when she was killed, the couple’s six-year-old daughter, Christina Engelbrecht, their four-year-old daughter, Regina Gertze, Swartbooi’s elder brother, Settie Swartbooi (50), and Engelbrecht’s nephew, Deon Gertze (18).All four men pleaded not guilty to all charges when their trial started on March 1 last year.By April 4, however, Christians placed it on record that Sylvester Beukes admitted that he had killed all eight people that lost their lives at the farm three years ago.The Beukes brothers have been in Police custody since being arrested at their home at Rehoboth on March 6 2005.Erasmus and Neidel are free on bail.