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‘Not guilty’ pleas in farm massacre trial

‘Not guilty’ pleas in farm massacre trial

NAMIBIA’S largest murder trial since Independence started in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday with the four accused denying all charges in connection with the massacre of eight people at a farm in the Kalkrand area in March 2005.

Justus Christiaan Erasmus (29), whose parents were two of the people murdered at the farm Kareeboomvloer on March 4 to 5 2005 and who is now accused of being the mastermind behind the killings, Sylvester Beukes (22), who stated in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on March 9 2005 that he had killed the eight victims of the farm massacre, the latter’s brother, Gavin Beukes (25), and Rehoboth district resident Stoney Neidel (30) all pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges when their trial got under way before Judge President Petrus Damaseb. Sylvester Beukes’s defence counsel, Winnie Christians, told the Judge President that except for his not guilty pleas, Beukes chose to remain silent at this stage.One of Erasmus’s two defence lawyers, Louis Botes, informed the court that Erasmus was challenging the State to prove the allegations against him.Typewritten plea explanations from Neidel and Gavin Beukes, who are both also represented by Christians, were however handed to the court.Beukes’s statement, especially, appears to strongly incriminate his brother.In his statement, Gavin Beukes related that after work on March 3 2005, his brother asked him to accompany him to a farm where he was supposed to work with his employer’s cattle.”I was not aware of anything Accused 2 (Sylvester Beukes) did or planned and only realised what was going on the afternoon of 04 March 2005 when I came from the veld and Accused 2 held me at gunpoint and tied me to a burglar bar (tralie) door,” Beukes said.”He committed all these offences on his own and forced me to assist him with the loading and transport of the items.The fact that he is my younger brother also made me feel pity for him and made me ponder a lot about whether I should act against him or go to the Police.However soon after we arrived at out house in Rehoboth and before I could talk to anybody the Police arrested and severely assaulted both of us.”In his plea statement, Neidel declared that Sylvester Beukes had phoned him on the afternoon of March 4 2005 to tell him that he was on his way to bring livestock to the farm where Neidel was staying.At about midnight, the Beukes brothers arrived at his house with a small truck loaded with livestock and other movable items.Some of the items were off-loaded at his house, before he drove with the brothers to the farm, where everything else was off-loaded, according to Neidel.The Police later found these items at the farm, he stated.Neidel declared: “I had no knowledge whatsoever of the murders as well as the fact that the items and livestock were stolen, although at some stage I became suspicious about the large quantity of items and intended to seriously talk to them about it when they return to the farm.”The items alleged to have been stolen at Kareeboomvloer, which belonged to Erasmus’s parents, Justus Christiaan Erasmus (Snr) (50) and Elzabé Erasmus (50), are listed under no fewer than 244 points that stretch over 13-and-a-half typewritten pages in the indictment against the four charged men.It includes firearms, a Hyundai bakkie, 22 goats and two sheep, tools, veterinary medicine, food, furniture, household appliances, bedding and even photographs of the murdered couple.The 15 charges that the four men face are: * eight counts of murder, and one count each of * housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, * robbery with aggravating circumstances, * defeating or obstructing the course of justice, or attempting to do so, * arson, alternatively malicious damage to property, * theft, * possession of firearms without a licence, and * possession of ammunition without a licence.In addition to the Erasmus couple, the foreman who was employed at Kareeboomvloer, Sonnyboy Swartbooi (35), his pregnant wife, Hilma Engelbrecht (32), and her unborn child, their children, Christina Engelbrecht (6) and Regina Gertze (4), a nephew of Engelbrecht, Deon Gertze (18), and Swartbooi’s brother, Settie Swartbooi (50), were killed.All of the victims were shot dead, it is claimed.The prosecution alleges that the massacre was the result of a plan that ‘Shorty’ Erasmus hatched with Sylvester Beukes to have Erasmus’s parents killed so that Erasmus could get his hands on his inheritance.The first witness to testify in the trial, Police Warrant Officer Hansie le Roux, one of the first Police officers to visit the crime scene and who compiled sketches and photo albums of the scene, is to continue giving evidence today.Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef is representing the State.Sylvester Beukes’s defence counsel, Winnie Christians, told the Judge President that except for his not guilty pleas, Beukes chose to remain silent at this stage.One of Erasmus’s two defence lawyers, Louis Botes, informed the court that Erasmus was challenging the State to prove the allegations against him.Typewritten plea explanations from Neidel and Gavin Beukes, who are both also represented by Christians, were however handed to the court.Beukes’s statement, especially, appears to strongly incriminate his brother.In his statement, Gavin Beukes related that after work on March 3 2005, his brother asked him to accompany him to a farm where he was supposed to work with his employer’s cattle.”I was not aware of anything Accused 2 (Sylvester Beukes) did or planned and only realised what was going on the afternoon of 04 March 2005 when I came from the veld and Accused 2 held me at gunpoint and tied me to a burglar bar (tralie) door,” Beukes said.”He committed all these offences on his own and forced me to assist him with the loading and transport of the items.The fact that he is my younger brother also made me feel pity for him and made me ponder a lot about whether I should act against him or go to the Police.However soon after we arrived at out house in Rehoboth and before I could talk to anybody the Police arrested and severely assaulted both of us.”In his plea statement, Neidel declared that Sylvester Beukes had phoned him on the afternoon of March 4 2005 to tell him that he was on his way to bring livestock to the farm where Neidel was staying.At about midnight, the Beukes brothers arrived at his house with a small truck loaded with livestock and other movable items.Some of the items were off-loaded at his house, before he drove with the brothers to the farm, where everything else was off-loaded, according to Neidel.The Police later found these items at the farm, he stated.Neidel declared: “I had no knowledge whatsoever of the murders as well as the fact that the items and livestock were stolen, although at some stage I became suspicious about the large quantity of items and intended to seriously talk to them about it when they return to the farm.”The items alleged to have been stolen at Kareeboomvloer, which belonged to Erasmus’s parents, Justus Christiaan Erasmus (Snr) (50) and Elzabé Erasmus (50), are listed under no fewer than 244 points that stretch over 13-and-a-half typewritten pages in the indictment against the four charged men.It includes firearms, a Hyundai bakkie, 22 goats and two sheep, tools, veterinary medicine, food, furniture, household appliances, bedding and even photographs of the murdered couple.The 15 charges that the four men face are: * eight counts of murder, and one count each of * housebreaking with intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances, * robbery with aggravating circumstances, * defeating or obstructing the course of justice, or attempting to do so, * arson, alternatively malicious damage to property, * theft, * possession of firearms without a licence, and * possession of ammunition without a licence.In addition to the Erasmus couple, the foreman who was employed at Kareeboomvloer, Sonnyboy Swartbooi (35), his pregnant wife, Hilma Engelbrecht (32), and her unborn child, their children, Christina Engelbrecht (6) and Regina Gertze (4), a nephew of Engelbrecht, Deon Gertze (18), and Swartbooi’s brother, Settie Swartbooi (50), were killed.All of the victims were shot dead, it is claimed.The prosecution alleges that the massacre was the result of a plan that ‘Shorty’ Erasmus hatched with Sylvester Beukes to have Erasmus’s parents killed so that Erasmus could get his hands on his inheritance.The first witness to testify in the trial, Police Warrant Officer Hansie le Roux, one of the first Police officers to visit the crime scene and who compiled sketches and photo albums of the scene, is to continue giving evidence today.Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef is representing the State.

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