Multiple murder suspects taken to scene of massacre

TWO years after the biggest mass killing since Namibia’s Independence, the two men accused of being present when eight people were ruthlessly slain at the Mariental district farm Kareeboomvloer returned to the scene of the crime yesterday.

For the most part, brothers – and multiple murder suspects – Sylvester Beukes (22) and Gavin Beukes (25) quietly observed scenes around the farmhouse when they visited the farm for an onsite inspection. With them were the other two men on trial in connection with the killings, as well as Judge President Petrus Damaseb, Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef, defence lawyers Winnie Christians, Louis Botes and Petrie Theron, a group of Police officers and some witnesses.Appearing more relaxed and in lighter spirits was Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus, the 29-year-old son of farm owners Justus Christiaan Erasmus and Elzabé Erasmus, two of the eight people slain at Kareeboomvloer on March 4 to 5 2005.Erasmus Jnr is being prosecuted with the Beukes brothers and a fourth accused, Stoney Neidel (30), based on an allegation that he recruited Sylvester Beukes to have his parents murdered.Returning to the scene where his parents drove into a death trap on the afternoon of March 5 2005, and where he discovered them lying dead in their farmhouse that night, Erasmus Jnr did not appear to be weighed down by the suspicion that has landed him in the dock.While Judge President Damaseb, the lawyers involved in the trial and Detective Chief Inspector Sydney Philander were looking at places at the scene that Philander said Gavin Beukes had shown to him on March 14 2005, Erasmus Jnr amiably made small talk with the new owner of his late parents’ farm and some of the people who accompanied the party to the farm.Philander showed the Judge President where Beukes had told him he (Beukes) and a farmworker were held at gunpoint by Sylvester Beukes.The Judge President was also shown the spot at a small veranda at the kitchen door where Philander said Gavin Beukes had told him his brother had tied him to a metal pillar to which a security door is attached.From that point, the Judge President was shown, it was possible to some extent to see what was happening on the other side of a wall at the one end of the veranda – which has a pattern of openings where some of the bricks had been left out of the wall.The point where Gavin Beukes had told Philander he had seen his brother shoot dead the Erasmus couple – this is on the other side of that wall – would in his opinion not be visible from the place where Gavin Beukes claimed he was tied up, however, Philander said at the scene.In the opposite direction from the point where the farm owners were allegedly shot dead near the entrance of a garage next to the house, is a small outbuilding with three rooms.The furthest of these rooms is where the remains of five of the victims were incinerated.From the point where Gavin Beukes told Philander he had been tied up, the door to that room cannot be seen, the Judge President was shown.It is, however, possible to see people standing outside the door of that room, as long as they stand about a metre or more away from the door, the Judge President was also shown.The Beukes brothers stood apart in the background, about 10 metres away from Judge President Damaseb, Philander and the lawyers when the location of the room was inspected.They looked on impassively at this scene where five people – including a pregnant woman and two small children, aged four and six – were allegedly shot and set on fire, with some of them allegedly burnt alive.The trial continues in the High Court in Windhoek today.With them were the other two men on trial in connection with the killings, as well as Judge President Petrus Damaseb, Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef, defence lawyers Winnie Christians, Louis Botes and Petrie Theron, a group of Police officers and some witnesses.Appearing more relaxed and in lighter spirits was Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus, the 29-year-old son of farm owners Justus Christiaan Erasmus and Elzabé Erasmus, two of the eight people slain at Kareeboomvloer on March 4 to 5 2005.Erasmus Jnr is being prosecuted with the Beukes brothers and a fourth accused, Stoney Neidel (30), based on an allegation that he recruited Sylvester Beukes to have his parents murdered.Returning to the scene where his parents drove into a death trap on the afternoon of March 5 2005, and where he discovered them lying dead in their farmhouse that night, Erasmus Jnr did not appear to be weighed down by the suspicion that has landed him in the dock.While Judge President Damaseb, the lawyers involved in the trial and Detective Chief Inspector Sydney Philander were looking at places at the scene that Philander said Gavin Beukes had shown to him on March 14 2005, Erasmus Jnr amiably made small talk with the new owner of his late parents’ farm and some of the people who accompanied the party to the farm.Philander showed the Judge President where Beukes had told him he (Beukes) and a farmworker were held at gunpoint by Sylvester Beukes. The Judge President was also shown the spot at a small veranda at the kitchen door where Philander said Gavin Beukes had told him his brother had tied him to a metal pillar to which a security door is attached.From that point, the Judge President was shown, it was possible to some extent to see what was happening on the other side of a wall at the one end of the veranda – which has a pattern of openings where some of the bricks had been left out of the wall.The point where Gavin Beukes had told Philander he had seen his brother shoot dead the Erasmus couple – this is on the other side of that wall – would in his opinion not be visible from the place where Gavin Beukes claimed he was tied up, however, Philander said at the scene.In the opposite direction from the point where the farm owners were allegedly shot dead near the entrance of a garage next to the house, is a small outbuilding with three rooms.The furthest of these rooms is where the remains of five of the victims were incinerated.From the point where Gavin Beukes told Philander he had been tied up, the door to that room cannot be seen, the Judge President was shown.It is, however, possible to see people standing outside the door of that room, as long as they stand about a metre or more away from the door, the Judge President was also shown.The Beukes brothers stood apart in the background, about 10 metres away from Judge President Damaseb, Philander and the lawyers when the location of the room was inspected.They looked on impassively at this scene where five people – including a pregnant woman and two small children, aged four and six – were allegedly shot and set on fire, with some of them allegedly burnt alive.The trial continues in the High Court in Windhoek today.