Farm massacre victim’s gun licence ‘key link’

DID the son of murdered farm owner Justus Erasmus give his father’s firearm licence to one of the men accused of murdering Erasmus and seven other people two years ago? The question remained unspoken as the High Court trial of Erasmus’s son, Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (29), and three co-accused went through its fourth day yesterday.

However, the trial for the first time moved in the direction of an allegation from the prosecution that could, if proven, link Erasmus Jr to the man who admitted in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court that he shot dead all eight massacre victims at farm Kareeboomvloer between Kalkrand and Rehoboth on March 4 and 5 2005. On trial with Erasmus Jr are Sylvester Beukes (22), who made those admissions shortly after his arrest, his brother, Gavin Beukes (25), who claims that he was an unwilling and forced spectator to the killings, and Stoney Neidel (30), a friend of the brothers at whose home a large hoard of items that were allegedly stolen from the farm after the massacre was found a day after the incident.All four indicted men have pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges against them.In the indictment the four accused face in their trial before Judge President Petrus Damaseb, it is alleged that Erasmus Jr conspired with Sylvester Beukes to have not only his parents but also his sister murdered.Erasmus Jr and Beukes met in Windhoek on January 31 2005, it is alleged in the summary of the State’s case in the indictment.On that occasion, it is charged, Erasmus Jr handed Beukes a revolver, his father’s firearm licence and a box containing an unknown number of .38 calibre bullets.When the Police investigated the crime scene on March 7 2005, they found a spent .38 calibre cartridge casing in a room where the bodies of five of the massacre victims had been set on fire, the court has already heard.Yesterday, a firearm licence identification book that is claimed to have belonged to Erasmus Sr became part of the evidence before the Judge President.Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef asked the court to accept the firearm licence as an exhibit after the 17-year-old sister of the Beukes brothers, Zola Cloete, had identified it as looking like “the little white book” that she said she had found in Sylvester Beukes’s bedroom at their house at Rehoboth at some stage early in 2005, before the weekend of the farm massacre.Cloete testified that she saw a “little book” lying on top of a wardrobe in her brother’s room one day.She could not remember the exact date or which month this had been, but said it was at some stage before a weekend that her brothers did not spend at home, and which ended on the Sunday with the Police coming to arrest both of them at their house.Cloete told the court that she tried to open the “little book”, but could only catch a glimpse of a photograph of a white man inside it before Sylvester Beukes grabbed it away from her and tore out the photo.He then set the picture on fire and burned it, she said.She said she could see a Police badge on the cover of the “book”, and also saw that it had “Fire-arm Licence” written on its cover.A firearm licence in the name of “J.C.Erasmus” that was in the Police docket, and which Verhoef showed to Cloete yesterday, has a Namibian Police emblem and the word “Fire-arm Licence Identification Book” on the front.Inside, the space reserved for a photograph of the holder of the licence is empty.Winnie Christians, the defence counsel representing both Beukes brothers and Neidel, posed no questions to Cloete when he got his turn to cross-examine her.Under cross-examination from Petrie Theron, representing Erasmus Jr, Cloete said the licence book shown to her in court was the same one that she had seen in her brother’s room more than two years ago.She said she was saying so because the licence book that she saw in court had no photo in it.When Theron continued to question her on that point, however, she conceded that she could not with certainty say that the licence in court was the same one she had seen in Sylvester Beukes’s room.They looked alike, however, she said.The trial continues today.On trial with Erasmus Jr are Sylvester Beukes (22), who made those admissions shortly after his arrest, his brother, Gavin Beukes (25), who claims that he was an unwilling and forced spectator to the killings, and Stoney Neidel (30), a friend of the brothers at whose home a large hoard of items that were allegedly stolen from the farm after the massacre was found a day after the incident.All four indicted men have pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges against them.In the indictment the four accused face in their trial before Judge President Petrus Damaseb, it is alleged that Erasmus Jr conspired with Sylvester Beukes to have not only his parents but also his sister murdered. Erasmus Jr and Beukes met in Windhoek on January 31 2005, it is alleged in the summary of the State’s case in the indictment.On that occasion, it is charged, Erasmus Jr handed Beukes a revolver, his father’s firearm licence and a box containing an unknown number of .38 calibre bullets.When the Police investigated the crime scene on March 7 2005, they found a spent .38 calibre cartridge casing in a room where the bodies of five of the massacre victims had been set on fire, the court has already heard.Yesterday, a firearm licence identification book that is claimed to have belonged to Erasmus Sr became part of the evidence before the Judge President.Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef asked the court to accept the firearm licence as an exhibit after the 17-year-old sister of the Beukes brothers, Zola Cloete, had identified it as looking like “the little white book” that she said she had found in Sylvester Beukes’s bedroom at their house at Rehoboth at some stage early in 2005, before the weekend of the farm massacre.Cloete testified that she saw a “little book” lying on top of a wardrobe in her brother’s room one day.She could not remember the exact date or which month this had been, but said it was at some stage before a weekend that her brothers did not spend at home, and which ended on the Sunday with the Police coming to arrest both of them at their house.Cloete told the court that she tried to open the “little book”, but could only catch a glimpse of a photograph of a white man inside it before Sylvester Beukes grabbed it away from her and tore out the photo.He then set the picture on fire and burned it, she said.She said she could see a Police badge on the cover of the “book”, and also saw that it had “Fire-arm Licence” written on its cover.A firearm licence in the name of “J.C.Erasmus” that was in the Police docket, and which Verhoef showed to Cloete yesterday, has a Namibian Police emblem and the word “Fire-arm Licence Identification Book” on the front.Inside, the space reserved for a photograph of the holder of the licence is empty.Winnie Christians, the defence counsel representing both Beukes brothers and Neidel, posed no questions to Cloete when he got his turn to cross-examine her.Under cross-examination from Petrie Theron, representing Erasmus Jr, Cloete said the licence book shown to her in court was the same one that she had seen in her brother’s room more than two years ago.She said she was saying so because the licence book that she saw in court had no photo in it.When Theron continued to question her on that point, however, she conceded that she could not with certainty say that the licence in court was the same one she had seen in Sylvester Beukes’s room.They looked alike, however, she said.The trial continues today.