Massacre suspect ‘made boer threat’

“THE boer will see.” Multiple murder suspect Sylvester Beukes made this statement numerous times to a Police officer at the Kalkrand Police Station in late 2004, a few months before Beukes allegedly shot dead his former employer, farm owner Justus Christiaan Erasmus (50), Erasmus’s wife, and six other people, a witness testified in the High Court trial of Beukes and three co-accused yesterday.

It was this statement that Beukes had made to him while Beukes was being held on stock theft charges at the Kalkrand Police Station between September and December 2004 that aroused the suspicions of Warrant Officer Max Kastor Joodt, the Kalkrand Police Station commander, shortly after the Erasmus couple and another six people were found murdered at farm Kareeboomvloer in the Kalkrand area on March 6 2005, Joodt testified before Judge President Petrus Damaseb yesterday. Joodt said he was part of the first group of Police officers to arrive at the farm early on the morning of March 6 2005.In the early hours of the that morning, the court heard earlier, the Erasmus couple’s son, Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (29), had reported to the Rehoboth Police Station that he had discovered his parents murdered at the farm.Erasmus Jnr is now sharing the dock with Beukes (22), the latter’s brother, Gavin Beukes (25), and a friend of the brothers, Stoney Raymond Neidel (30).The State alleges that Erasmus Jnr had contracted Sylvester Beukes to kill Erasmus’s parents.All four accused have pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges, including eight counts of murder, that they face.According to Joodt, he remembered the statement that Beukes had made to him on several occasions at the Kalkrand Police Station while he and other Police officers were having a talk at the massacre scene.”On many occasions he mentioned that ‘the boer will see’,” Joodt testified.At the time that Beukes was in custody at Kalkrand, one of the two cases that he was being detained on was a stock theft matter that Erasmus Snr had made against him.Joodt said he told Detective Inspector Kobie Theron, who was also at the farm, about the remark that he remembered Beukes had made.He also told Theron that he had a photograph of Beukes, and that he knew that Beukes was living at Rehoboth at that stage.By that evening, both Beukes brothers were under arrest.When he told Theron about the remark, he already regarded Beukes as a possible suspect in the crimes that were committed at Kareeboomvloer, Joodt told the court in reply to a question from Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef.”Ja, I thought because many times he mentioned that ‘the boer will see’,” he said.Joodt told the court that Beukes was always good-humoured during the time that he was kept in custody at Kalkrand.”He was always smiling,” Joodt said.”He was always a friendly man.”Beukes’s mood was similarly good-natured at the times that he made the alleged threat, Joodt claimed.During his time in custody at Kalkrand, Beukes also at some stage asked for help from the Police to lay a labour complaint against Erasmus Snr, Joodt testified.He said he understood that this complaint was about money that Beukes claimed Erasmus Snr had failed to pay him.Defence counsel Winnie Christians, who is representing the brothers and Neidel, did not dispute Joodt’s testimony about the alleged statement by Beukes when he cross-examined the witness.The trial continues today.* In a report on the trial that was published in The Namibian yesterday it was erroneously stated that Dr Gonzalo Alvares de la Campa Gonzalez, a State pathologist who conducted autopsies on the remains of four of the victims, had testified on Wednesday that he found soot in the trachea of one of the victims, the four-year-old Regina Gertze.In fact, Gonzalez told the court that because of the extent of the damage caused to Gertze’s remains when she was set on fire, he could not examine her trachea to look for the presence of soot.If soot is found in the trachea of a person whose body was burnt, it is taken as an indication that the person was still alive and breathing at the time he or she was set alight.Gonzalez found soot present in the tracheae of two of the other victims, the pregnant Hilma Engelbrecht (32) and Settie Swartbooi (50).Another State pathologist who performed autopsies on the other four victims, Dr Elizabeth Shangula, further told the court on Friday that she had also found soot in the tracheae of the burnt Deon Gertze (18) and six-year-old Christina Engelbrecht.Joodt said he was part of the first group of Police officers to arrive at the farm early on the morning of March 6 2005.In the early hours of the that morning, the court heard earlier, the Erasmus couple’s son, Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (29), had reported to the Rehoboth Police Station that he had discovered his parents murdered at the farm.Erasmus Jnr is now sharing the dock with Beukes (22), the latter’s brother, Gavin Beukes (25), and a friend of the brothers, Stoney Raymond Neidel (30).The State alleges that Erasmus Jnr had contracted Sylvester Beukes to kill Erasmus’s parents.All four accused have pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges, including eight counts of murder, that they face.According to Joodt, he remembered the statement that Beukes had made to him on several occasions at the Kalkrand Police Station while he and other Police officers were having a talk at the massacre scene.”On many occasions he mentioned that ‘the boer will see’,” Joodt testified.At the time that Beukes was in custody at Kalkrand, one of the two cases that he was being detained on was a stock theft matter that Erasmus Snr had made against him.Joodt said he told Detective Inspector Kobie Theron, who was also at the farm, about the remark that he remembered Beukes had made.He also told Theron that he had a photograph of Beukes, and that he knew that Beukes was living at Rehoboth at that stage.By that evening, both Beukes brothers were under arrest.When he told Theron about the remark, he already regarded Beukes as a possible suspect in the crimes that were committed at Kareeboomvloer, Joodt told the court in reply to a question from Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef.”Ja, I thought because many times he mentioned that ‘the boer will see’,” he said.Joodt told the court that Beukes was always good-humoured during the time that he was kept in custody at Kalkrand.”He was always smiling,” Joodt said.”He was always a friendly man.”Beukes’s mood was similarly good-natured at the times that he made the alleged threat, Joodt claimed.During his time in custody at Kalkrand, Beukes also at some stage asked for help from the Police to lay a labour complaint against Erasmus Snr, Joodt testified.He said he understood that this complaint was about money that Beukes claimed Erasmus Snr had failed to pay him.Defence counsel Winnie Christians, who is representing the brothers and Neidel, did not dispute Joodt’s testimony about the alleged statement by Beukes when he cross-examined the witness.The trial continues today.* In a report on the trial that was published in The Namibian yesterday it was erroneously stated that Dr Gonzalo Alvares de la Campa Gonzalez, a State pathologist who conducted autopsies on the remains of four of the victims, had testified on Wednesday that he found soot in the trachea of one of the victims, the four-year-old Regina Gertze.In fact, Gonzalez told the court that because of the extent of the damage caused to Gertze’s remains when she was set on fire, he could not examine her trachea to look for the presence of soot.If soot is found in the trachea of a person whose body was burnt, it is taken as an indication that the person was still alive and breathing at the time he or she was set alight.Gonzalez found soot present in the tracheae of two of the other victims, the pregnant Hilma Engelbrecht (32) and Settie Swartbooi (50).Another State pathologist who performed autopsies on the other four victims, Dr Elizabeth Shangula, further told the court on Friday that she had also found soot in the tracheae of the burnt Deon Gertze (18) and six-year-old Christina Engelbrecht.