Massacre suspect: son supplied weapon

“I GOT the firearm from Shorty.” Farm massacre suspect Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus sat motionless in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday when one of his co-accused in his trial, Sylvester Beukes, made this statement to Judge President Petrus Damaseb.

By saying this, 22-year-old farm massacre suspect Beukes for the first time since his arrest on March 6 2005 made a public statement involving Erasmus in the crimes that they, Beukes’s brother, Gavin Beukes (26), and Rehoboth area resident Stoney Neidel (30) are accused of. Erasmus (30) sat in his usual corner spot in the dock before Judge President Damaseb as Beukes made this claim from the witness stand.Staring intently but without outward reaction at Beukes, resting his chin on his hand, Erasmus could hear Beukes for the first time publicly making his accusations.These we the ones that in the first instance had led to Erasmus being arrested on March 15 and charged with having had his parents murdered at their farm ten days earlier.Erasmus and the other three accused men all pleaded not guilty to eight counts of murder and seven further charges when their trial started on March 1 this year.On April 4, however, Sylvester Beukes’s defence counsel, Winnie Christians, informed the Judge President that Beukes was admitting that he killed the eight people who died at farm Kareeboomvloer between Rehoboth and Kalkrand between March 4 and 5 2005.Erasmus’s parents, Justus and Elzabé Erasmus, both aged 50, were two of the victims killed at the farm.At his first court appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on March 9 2005, Beukes said he had acted alone when he carried out the killings at the farm.He made no mention of the slain Erasmus couple’s only son and the role now attributed to him.Six days after that court appearance, Erasmus was arrested, as a result of a sworn statement that Beukes had in the meantime made to a Police officer.In that statement, the Police have indicated, Beukes claimed that Erasmus had asked him to kill his parents.When he placed the admissions that Beukes was making on record in early April, Christians also told the Judge President that Beukes was admitting that he had used a .38 Special revolver to shoot five of the people at the farm – including a pregnant woman, Hilma Engelbrecht, her six-year-old daughter, Christina Engelbrecht, and her four-year-old daughter, Regina Gertze.Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef had a fire-damaged .38 Special revolver that is part of the evidence in the trial shown to Beukes yesterday.This was while she was cross-examining him on testimony he had been giving in a trial within a trial on the admissibility of statements that he is claimed to have made to former Police Inspector Kobie Theron in the time between his arrest and his first appearance in court.According to Beukes, he was beaten, kicked and mistreated by Police officers on March 6 and 7 2005.Verhoef however made him move off that topic when she had the .38 Special revolver shown to him.That is the revolver that was referred to in the admissions that Christians made in early April, Beukes confirmed.The handle of the gun appears to be damaged by fire.”It burned at the murder scene.I threw it in the fire and it burned there,” Beukes said.The remains of five of the people killed at the farm were set on fire in a small storeroom next to the main farmhouse.When Verhoef moved on to a next question, asking Beukes where he got the revolver, Erasmus’s defence lawyer, Petrie Theron, sprang into action with an objection.The question was not relevant in a trial within a trial that is supposed to deal with the issue of the admissibility of statements, Theron told the Judge President.The question had a lot to do with the trial within a trial, as it related to Beukes’s credibility, Verhoef replied.The fact that a defence counsel did not like a certain question or the answer to it did not make that question objectionable, she added.Judge President Damaseb allowed her to proceed with the question – but also pointed out to Theron that the evidence given in the trial within a trial does not without further ado count as evidence in the main trial as well.”I got the firearm from Shorty,” Beukes answered the question put by Verhoef before Theron’s objection.”Accused number four?” Verhoef asked next, referring to Erasmus.”Yes,” said Beukes.”When did you get this from accused number four?” she continued.”At the end of January 2005,” Beukes replied.”Why did he give you this firearm?” Verhoef asked.”To shoot with,” said Beukes, Verhoef asked: “Who?” “His parents,” said Beukes.In the dock, a motionless Erasmus had his gaze fixed on his accuser.When Verhoef asked Beukes when Erasmus had asked him to shoot his parents, Beukes replied that he could not answer that now, but might do it at a later stage.Beukes went on to say that he told Theron, when Theron visited him at Hardap Prison following his first court appearance, that the man who had to bring him money had not done so.Verhoef asked if this man with the money was Erasmus.Beukes confirmed this was so.”This is the money which accused four, Shorty Erasmus, promised you to kill his parents?” she asked.”Yes,” said Beukes.Beukes is set to continue giving evidence under cross-examination when the trial continues on Monday.At Verhoef’s request the Judge President has directed that he should be kept separately from Gavin Beukes in prison over the weekend, until he had completed his testimony.Erasmus (30) sat in his usual corner spot in the dock before Judge President Damaseb as Beukes made this claim from the witness stand.Staring intently but without outward reaction at Beukes, resting his chin on his hand, Erasmus could hear Beukes for the first time publicly making his accusations. These we the ones that in the first instance had led to Erasmus being arrested on March 15 and charged with having had his parents murdered at their farm ten days earlier.Erasmus and the other three accused men all pleaded not guilty to eight counts of murder and seven further charges when their trial started on March 1 this year.On April 4, however, Sylvester Beukes’s defence counsel, Winnie Christians, informed the Judge President that Beukes was admitting that he killed the eight people who died at farm Kareeboomvloer between Rehoboth and Kalkrand between March 4 and 5 2005.Erasmus’s parents, Justus and Elzabé Erasmus, both aged 50, were two of the victims killed at the farm.At his first court appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on March 9 2005, Beukes said he had acted alone when he carried out the killings at the farm.He made no mention of the slain Erasmus couple’s only son and the role now attributed to him.Six days after that court appearance, Erasmus was arrested, as a result of a sworn statement that Beukes had in the meantime made to a Police officer.In that statement, the Police have indicated, Beukes claimed that Erasmus had asked him to kill his parents.When he placed the admissions that Beukes was making on record in early April, Christians also told the Judge President that Beukes was admitting that he had used a .38 Special revolver to shoot five of the people at the farm – including a pregnant woman, Hilma Engelbrecht, her six-year-old daughter, Christina Engelbrecht, and her four-year-old daughter, Regina Gertze.Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef had a fire-damaged .38 Special revolver that is part of the evidence in the trial shown to Beukes yesterday.This was while she was cross-examining him on testimony he had been giving in a trial within a trial on the admissibility of statements that he is claimed to have made to former Police Inspector Kobie Theron in the time between his arrest and his first appearance in court.According to Beukes, he was beaten, kicked and mistreated by Police officers on March 6 and 7 2005.Verhoef however made him move off that topic when she had the .38 Special revolver shown to him.That is the revolver that was referred to in the admissions that Christians made in early April, Beukes confirmed.The handle of the gun appears to be damaged by fire.”It burned at the murder scene.I threw it in the fire and it burned there,” Beukes said.The remains of five of the people killed at the farm were set on fire in a small storeroom next to the main farmhouse.When Verhoef moved on to a next question, asking Beukes where he got the revolver, Erasmus’s defence lawyer, Petrie Theron, sprang into action with an objection.The question was not relevant in a trial within a trial that is supposed to deal with the issue of the admissibility of statements, Theron told the Judge President.The question had a lot to do with the trial within a trial, as it related to Beukes’s credibility, Verhoef replied.The fact that a defence counsel did not like a certain question or the answer to it did not make that question objectionable, she added.Judge President Damaseb allowed her to proceed with the question – but also pointed out to Theron that the evidence given in the trial within a trial does not without further ado count as evidence in the main trial as well.”I got the firearm from Shorty,” Beukes answered the question put by Verhoef before Theron’s objection.”Accused number four?” Verhoef asked next, referring to Erasmus.”Yes,” said Beukes.”When did you get this from accused number four?” she continued.”At the end of January 2005,” Beukes replied.”Why did he give you this firearm?” Verhoef asked.”To shoot with,” said Beukes, Verhoef asked: “Who?” “His parents,” said Beukes.In the dock, a motionless Erasmus had his gaze fixed on his accuser.When Verhoef asked Beukes when Erasmus had asked him to shoot his parents, Beukes replied that he could not answer that now, but might do it at a later stage.Beukes went on to say that he told Theron, when Theron visited him at Hardap Prison following his first court appearance, that the man who had to bring him money had not done so.Verhoef asked if this man with the money was Erasmus.Beukes confirmed this was so.”This is the money which accused four, Shorty Erasmus, promised you to kill his parents?” she asked.”Yes,” said Beukes.Beukes is set to continue giving evidence under cross-examination when the trial continues on Monday.At Verhoef’s request the Judge President has directed that he should be kept separately from Gavin Beukes in prison over the weekend, until he had completed his testimony.