Massacre suspect was ‘in tears’

MURDER suspect ‘Shorty’ Erasmus was in tears and appeared to be unable to believe what he had seen at his parents’ farm when he reported to the Police at Rehoboth that he had found his parents murdered two years ago.

Testifying in the High Court in Windhoek on the fifth day of the trial of the four men being prosecuted in connection with the massacre of eight people at farm Kareeboomvloer in the Mariental district on March 4 and 5 2005, Namibian Police Sergeant Martinus Eimann told the court about the night that Erasmus reported the murder of his parents. Eimann testified that at about 01h40 on March 6 2005 he received a call from the charge office at the Rehoboth Police Station.He was told that a murder on a farm had been reported at the charge office.He drove to the station and found Erasmus there.He and Erasmus then drove to the offices of the Police’s Criminal Investigation Department at the town, Eimann testified.On the way, Erasmus told him he had found that his parents had been murdered when he arrived at their farm, Kareeboomvloer.Erasmus also told him that he had tried to make several telephone calls to the farm, but when he did not get any answer, he decided to drive to the farm himself, Eimann narrated.There, he discovered that his parents had been murdered.He then drove to Rehoboth to report the matter to the Police, Eimann said he was told by Erasmus.Eimann was at the end of his testimony already before Judge President Petrus Damaseb was the first person in court to ask him to describe Erasmus’s demeanour that night.”When I saw him he was crying,” Eimann answered.”And it looked like he was in a state that he can’t believe what he saw on the farm.”Erasmus (29) was arrested and charged with the murder of his parents and six other people at Kareeboomvloer on March 10 2005.That was after one of the men now in the dock with him, Sylvester Beukes (22) claimed that Erasmus had hired him to kill Erasmus’s parents.Before making that claim in a statement under oath, Beukes had earlier admitted in open court that he had carried out the massacre at the farm.In the indictment that the four accused men face, the State alleges that Erasmus had handed over a revolver, .38 calibre ammunition and a firearm licence of one J.C.Erasmus – thought to have been the firearm licence of Erasmus’s namesake father – to Beukes during a meeting in Windhoek on January 31 2005.At the same time, though, the “firearm licence book of Justus Christiaan Erasmus” is also listed in the indictment as the last in a list of 244 items that the charged men are accused of stealing from the farm after the eight people were killed there.On Tuesday, State witness Zola Cloete – the 17-year-old sister of Beukes and his brother, Gavin Beukes, who is also one of the accused – told the court that she had seen something that looked like a “Namibian Police Fire-arm Licence Identification Book” in Sylvester Beukes’s room at their house at Rehoboth early in 2005, some time before the farm killings.When Beukes saw her trying to look through the licence book, he grabbed it away from her, tore out a photo from it, and burned the picture, she said.Yesterday, Namibian Police Sergeant Libney Beukes testified that he was asked by the Beukes brothers on March 7 2005, shortly after their arrest, to collect some toiletries and clothing for them from their home at Rehoboth.While a woman who had helped him get into the house was going through a wardrobe in a bedroom, something fell out of the wardrobe, Beukes said.The woman brought the item to him, and he saw that it was a firearm licence book, Beukes testified.He identified the firearm licence book that is made out in the name of J.C.Erasmus, and which is missing the photo of the licence holder, as the item that was handed to him at the Beukes brothers’ house that day.The trial continues today.Eimann testified that at about 01h40 on March 6 2005 he received a call from the charge office at the Rehoboth Police Station. He was told that a murder on a farm had been reported at the charge office.He drove to the station and found Erasmus there.He and Erasmus then drove to the offices of the Police’s Criminal Investigation Department at the town, Eimann testified.On the way, Erasmus told him he had found that his parents had been murdered when he arrived at their farm, Kareeboomvloer.Erasmus also told him that he had tried to make several telephone calls to the farm, but when he did not get any answer, he decided to drive to the farm himself, Eimann narrated.There, he discovered that his parents had been murdered.He then drove to Rehoboth to report the matter to the Police, Eimann said he was told by Erasmus.Eimann was at the end of his testimony already before Judge President Petrus Damaseb was the first person in court to ask him to describe Erasmus’s demeanour that night.”When I saw him he was crying,” Eimann answered.”And it looked like he was in a state that he can’t believe what he saw on the farm.”Erasmus (29) was arrested and charged with the murder of his parents and six other people at Kareeboomvloer on March 10 2005.That was after one of the men now in the dock with him, Sylvester Beukes (22) claimed that Erasmus had hired him to kill Erasmus’s parents.Before making that claim in a statement under oath, Beukes had earlier admitted in open court that he had carried out the massacre at the farm.In the indictment that the four accused men face, the State alleges that Erasmus had handed over a revolver, .38 calibre ammunition and a firearm licence of one J.C.Erasmus – thought to have been the firearm licence of Erasmus’s namesake father – to Beukes during a meeting in Windhoek on January 31 2005.At the same time, though, the “firearm licence book of Justus Christiaan Erasmus” is also listed in the indictment as the last in a list of 244 items that the charged men are accused of stealing from the farm after the eight people were killed there.On Tuesday, State witness Zola Cloete – the 17-year-old sister of Beukes and his brother, Gavin Beukes, who is also one of the accused – told the court that she had seen something that looked like a “Namibian Police Fire-arm Licence Identification Book” in Sylvester Beukes’s room at their house at Rehoboth early in 2005, some time before the farm killings.When Beukes saw her trying to look through the licence book, he grabbed it away from her, tore out a photo from it, and burned the picture, she said.Yesterday, Namibian Police Sergeant Libney Beukes testified that he was asked by the Beukes brothers on March 7 2005, shortly after their arrest, to collect some toiletries and clothing for them from their home at Rehoboth.While a woman who had helped him get into the house was going through a wardrobe in a bedroom, something fell out of the wardrobe, Beukes said.The woman brought the item to him, and he saw that it was a firearm licence book, Beukes testified.He identified the firearm licence book that is made out in the name of J.C.Erasmus, and which is missing the photo of the licence holder, as the item that was handed to him at the Beukes brothers’ house that day.The trial continues today.