FARM massacre suspect Gavin Beukes is set to hear by October 11 whether he has succeeded with an application to be released on bail, it was indicated in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Beukes (24) launched a formal application to be granted bail on Wednesday last week. Yesterday, Magistrate Alweendo Venatius heard arguments from Public Prosecutor Anita Meyer and defence lawyer SC Garbers on Beukes’s application, before he reserved his ruling for October 11.The Magistrate said if he completed his judgement on the bail application before then, he would give his ruling at an earlier date.Beukes and his younger brother, Sylvester Beukes (20), were arrested at Rehoboth a day after one of the bloodiest crimes yet in Namibia had been committed at the farm Kareeboomkolk between Kalkrand and Rehoboth on March 5.Eight people, including farm owners Justus and Elzabé Erasmus, were shot dead in the massacre.The other victims were farmworkers Settie and Sonnyboy Swartbooi, who were brothers, the latter’s pregnant wife, Hilma Engelbrecht, her and her husband’s children, Christina Engelbrecht and Regina Gertze, and a nephew of Hilma Engelbrecht, Deon Gertze.Sylvester Beukes admitted that he had committed the killings when he and his brother made a first appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court in the week after their arrest.He also said his brother was an unwilling spectator, whom he had tied up and threatened before starting the killing spree.According to Sylvester Beukes, he wanted to take revenge against Mr Erasmus over the shabby treatment that he allegedly received from the part-time farmer when he was employed by Erasmus.He killed all the other people on the farm – sparing only his brother – to wipe out all evidence that might have led the Police to him, Sylvester Beukes said during his plea.About a week later, he added a potentially significant detail to his version of events.He gave a sworn statement to the Police in which he claimed that the Erasmus couple’s son, Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (27), had asked him to kill the couple in return for a share of the proceeds of their life insurance policies.Erasmus Jr has since then also been arrested and charged with the same 12 counts – including eight charges of murder – facing the Beukes brothers.Gavin Beukes’s lawyer told the Magistrate in his final address on the bail bid yesterday that his client was not likely to flee if he was released on bail, since the State did not have a watertight case against him and the chances that he might be convicted on the charges were slim.Meyer took an opposite line.He argued that it had been shown that there was evidence that could result in Beukes being convicted.With the extremely serious nature of the charges against him, even if there was only a slim possibility that he might be convicted, he would be a flight risk if released on bail, she argued.Both Gavin and Sylvester Beukes have remained in custody since their arrest.Erasmus Jr was released on bail of N$20 000 after he spent a week in Police cells.Yesterday, Magistrate Alweendo Venatius heard arguments from Public Prosecutor Anita Meyer and defence lawyer SC Garbers on Beukes’s application, before he reserved his ruling for October 11.The Magistrate said if he completed his judgement on the bail application before then, he would give his ruling at an earlier date.Beukes and his younger brother, Sylvester Beukes (20), were arrested at Rehoboth a day after one of the bloodiest crimes yet in Namibia had been committed at the farm Kareeboomkolk between Kalkrand and Rehoboth on March 5.Eight people, including farm owners Justus and Elzabé Erasmus, were shot dead in the massacre.The other victims were farmworkers Settie and Sonnyboy Swartbooi, who were brothers, the latter’s pregnant wife, Hilma Engelbrecht, her and her husband’s children, Christina Engelbrecht and Regina Gertze, and a nephew of Hilma Engelbrecht, Deon Gertze.Sylvester Beukes admitted that he had committed the killings when he and his brother made a first appearance in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court in the week after their arrest.He also said his brother was an unwilling spectator, whom he had tied up and threatened before starting the killing spree.According to Sylvester Beukes, he wanted to take revenge against Mr Erasmus over the shabby treatment that he allegedly received from the part-time farmer when he was employed by Erasmus.He killed all the other people on the farm – sparing only his brother – to wipe out all evidence that might have led the Police to him, Sylvester Beukes said during his plea.About a week later, he added a potentially significant detail to his version of events.He gave a sworn statement to the Police in which he claimed that the Erasmus couple’s son, Justus Christiaan (‘Shorty’) Erasmus (27), had asked him to kill the couple in return for a share of the proceeds of their life insurance policies.Erasmus Jr has since then also been arrested and charged with the same 12 counts – including eight charges of murder – facing the Beukes brothers.Gavin Beukes’s lawyer told the Magistrate in his final address on the bail bid yesterday that his client was not likely to flee if he was released on bail, since the State did not have a watertight case against him and the chances that he might be convicted on the charges were slim.Meyer took an opposite line.He argued that it had been shown that there was evidence that could result in Beukes being convicted.With the extremely serious nature of the charges against him, even if there was only a slim possibility that he might be convicted, he would be a flight risk if released on bail, she argued.Both Gavin and Sylvester Beukes have remained in custody since their arrest.Erasmus Jr was released on bail of N$20 000 after he spent a week in Police cells.
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