Father and son back in court for murder

A FATHER and son accused of murder, Hendrik Johannes Venter (Snr) and Johannes Hendrik Venter, appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on a charge that they killed a woman in Windhoek in April 2002, before hiding her body in a school store room in the capital for over a year.

Magistrate Sarel Jacobs postponed the case against Venter Snr (67) and his 44-year-old son to July 14. The Magistrate added that it would be a final postponement for the purpose of further Police investigations.Venter Jnr was arrested in Windhoek on May 27 last year, four days after the skeletal remains of a woman were discovered in an unused storeroom on the grounds of Centaurus Secondary School in the city.The remains were wrapped in black plastic bags, which in turn were wrapped in blankets that were tied around the body with string.The Police later announced that they suspected that the remains were those of Maritsa van Wyk, a mother of two children who would have been 26 years old at the time of the alleged murder around April 2002.The Police claim that Van Wyk may have been making a living as a sex worker in Windhoek’s Ausspannplatz area when she was killed, possibly by strangulation.After his arrest, Venter confessed that he had strangled a woman in his room on the Centaurus School grounds – when she started yelling at him because a condom that they had used during intercourse had broken, sources with close knowledge of the case have reported.However, in early February he had had a change of mind.He changed his version of events and implicated his father as the actual culprit, leading to the arrest of Venter Snr on February 6.Venter Snr, who has been in Police custody since then, is reported to be in frail health, and indications at the court on Thursday were that the two men’s case might return to court earlier than scheduled in order to transfer it to the court where they would be tried.The Magistrate added that it would be a final postponement for the purpose of further Police investigations.Venter Jnr was arrested in Windhoek on May 27 last year, four days after the skeletal remains of a woman were discovered in an unused storeroom on the grounds of Centaurus Secondary School in the city.The remains were wrapped in black plastic bags, which in turn were wrapped in blankets that were tied around the body with string.The Police later announced that they suspected that the remains were those of Maritsa van Wyk, a mother of two children who would have been 26 years old at the time of the alleged murder around April 2002.The Police claim that Van Wyk may have been making a living as a sex worker in Windhoek’s Ausspannplatz area when she was killed, possibly by strangulation.After his arrest, Venter confessed that he had strangled a woman in his room on the Centaurus School grounds – when she started yelling at him because a condom that they had used during intercourse had broken, sources with close knowledge of the case have reported.However, in early February he had had a change of mind.He changed his version of events and implicated his father as the actual culprit, leading to the arrest of Venter Snr on February 6.Venter Snr, who has been in Police custody since then, is reported to be in frail health, and indications at the court on Thursday were that the two men’s case might return to court earlier than scheduled in order to transfer it to the court where they would be tried.