at 4/30/2009 08:22:00 pm No comments:
at 4/29/2009 08:31:00 pm 4 comments:
April 25 2009 at 04:19PM
Justin Browne was slaughtered like an animal - a Johannesburg judge ruled when he found three men guilty of slitting his throat in front of his children, then aged seven and three.
Acting Judge Gerhardus Hattingh also found that the three killers; Kenneth Kaman Mukhari, 34, alias Mario dos Santos, Jose Aurelio, 33, alias Domingo Mathebula and Sidumo Mabaso, 33, all from Mozambique, acted with common purpose to kill Browne.
The three were also found guilty of robbing the Browne family in their house in Northwold, Randburg, on August 26 2007.
One of his victims was pierced in the lung during an attack; two others, Shaleen and Allan Strydom, were in the gallery to hear Friday's verdict.
After their conviction, the three appealed to Judge Hattingh to be lenient when passing sentence, saying they were in their early 30s, married with minor children living in Mozambique.
The appeal for clemency outraged Justin's wife, Geordie, during her testimony in aggravation of sentence. She also told the court that like the killers, her husband would have turned 33 on Wednesday.
Geordie Browne struggled to hold back tears when she told the court that her children lit a candle on Wednesday and sang Happy Birthday for their father.
She offered the judge messages from her children describing their affection for her husband.
Daniella, who witnessed her father bleed to death, wrote: "He won't be able to walk me down aisle when I get married or be there to celebrate my 21st birthday or Christmas. I love you so much Daddy and I miss you, good night, Daddy."
Robin, who was three at the time, said: "I miss Daddy lots because he died. I miss playing rally and cards, and throwing the ball to me in Rugby. I miss him when he bathed me and swam with me.
"He won't be here to watch me grow up. But I know he loves us and protects us."
Justin's stepson, Tristan, wrote: "I miss my dad because he and I will not be able to throw the ball to each other or play PlayStation together."
The three accused will be sentenced on Thursday.
at 4/28/2009 06:57:00 pm 1 comment:
at 4/25/2009 04:18:00 pm 1 comment:
Apr 24 2009 08:50:13:930PM - (SA)
’n Man van Centurion is ernstig gewond toe hy vermoedelik deur rowers raak geskiet is terwyl hy na sy bakkie gestap het wat in sy oprit geluier het.
Mnr. Leon Steenkamp, in sy laat 40’s, was gister nog swaar verdoof in die Zuid-Afrikaanse hospitaal in Pretoria nadat hy in die rug geskiet is.
Me. Ché Gething, trauma-eenheidsbestuurder by dié hospitaal, het gesê hulle het Steenkamp eers in die waakeenheid laat opneem om seker te maak dit sal veilig wees om hom te opereer.
Die koeël het hom in die lae rug getref.
Steenkamp het gisteroggend omstreeks 05:00 na sy Ford-bakkie voor die huis geloop en dié laat luier om warm te word.
Volgens kapt. Agnes Huma, polisiewoordvoerder, het rowers toegang verkry tot die erf, wat met hoë mure en elektriese omheinings beveilig is, deur die hek oop te dwing.
Sy vrou, Angelique, het by die voordeur gestaan en alarm gemaak toe sy die rowers gewaar het.
Mnr. Leon Swart, die Steenkamps se buurman in The Reeds, Rooihuiskraal, het aan Beeld gesê die honde het reeds van 03:00 af geblaf.
“Die honde was die hele oggend onrustig en ek het kort-kort deur die venster gekyk om te sien wat aangaan.
“Toe hoor ek ’n skoot en ’n gil.”
Die Swart-gesin het die paramedici ontbied wat Steenkamp gestabiliseer en na ’n hospitaal geneem het.
Huma het gesê niks is tydens die skietvoorval gesteel nie en die polisie ondersoek ’n klag van poging tot moord.
Niemand is nog weens die voorval aangekeer nie.
Die polisie is nie seker na hoeveel verdagtes hulle soek nie.
at 4/25/2009 03:42:00 pm No comments:
Apr 21 2009 07:27:24:767PM - (SA)
’n Gewonde huisroofslagoffer van Centurion het ’n huisrower gisteroggend met dié se eie vuurwapen in die boud geskiet.
Dit kom nadat mnr. James Mitchell (40) se Duitse pointer, Roxy, in die rug en hy in die bobeen geskiet is.
Roxy moes gister van kant gemaak word. Mitchell is gistermiddag ná behandeling uit die hospitaal ontslaan.
Mnr. Herman Steynberg, hoof van patrollies by Pierre van Ryneveld se gemeenskapspolisiëringsforum (GPF), het gesê die Mitchell-gesin het omstreeks 02:00 wakker geword van die alarm wat in hul huis in Marylandweg in dié woonbuurt afgegaan het.
Me. Grieta Mitchell (35) het van haar slaapkamer in die gang af geloop en in een van die inbrekers vasgeloop.
Hy het die diefwering van ’n kombuisvenster oopgedwing om in die huis te kom.
Me. Mitchell is terug na haar slaapkamer, met die rower agterna. Hy het die heeltyd selfone geëis.
Roxy, een van die gesin se twee honde, het die rower aangeval, maar hy het twee skote afgevuur, waarvan een haar getref het.
Mnr. Mitchell het in ’n struweling met die rower betrokke geraak. Die rower het nog ’n skoot afgevuur wat mnr. Mitchell in die bobeen getref het.
Terwyl mnr. Mitchell en die rower geworstel het, het me. Mitchell oor die GPF-radio om hulp geroep.
“Julle moet kom help. Hulle is in die huis en skiet,” het sy glo oor die radio geskreeu.
Intussen het mnr. Mitchell die vuurwapen by die rower afgeneem en ’n skoot afgevuur. Die rower het kombuis toe gehardloop en by dieselfde venster uitgeklim.
Mnr. Mitchell het deur die venster ’n skoot afgetrek en die vermeende rower in die boud getref.
Die egpaar se twee kinders, ’n 14-jarige dogter en ’n 12-jarige seun, het die heeltyd in hul kamers weggekruip.
Die verdagte het oor mure gespring en deur erwe gehardloop in sy vlugtog.
Verskeie lede van die GPF het op die noodroep gereageer en saam met die Tshwane-metropolisie en ’n veiligheidsmaatskappy strate in die omgewing afgesper en erwe deurgesoek.
Die vermeende huisrower is in Marauderweg, ’n blok van die Mitchells se huis, gevind waar hy in ’n houthuis geskuil het.
Volgens mnr. Frans Esterhuyse, hoof van operasies by die GPF, het GPF- en polisielede die omgewing gefynkam op soek na die gearresteerde se twee makkers wat ook glo by die huisrooftog betrokke was.
’n Selfoon wat by die Mitchells geroof is, ’n flits, ’n handskoen en ’n bloedkol is onder ’n bos in ’n erf in Mustanglaan, wat Maryland- en Marauderweg kruis, gevind.
Volgens dir. André Wiese, stasiebevelvoerder van die Lyttelton-polisiekantoor, is dié bende misdadigers nie dieselfde bende wat twee weke gelede op dié gemeenskap toegeslaan het nie.
In dié vroeëre voorval is een van die misdadigers doodgeskiet.
Hy is positief met huisrooftogte in Elarduspark, in die ooste van Pretoria, verbind, het Wiese gesê.
at 4/22/2009 08:08:00 pm 1 comment:
at 4/22/2009 03:20:00 pm No comments:
at 4/21/2009 07:56:00 pm No comments:
at 4/21/2009 06:03:00 pm No comments:
at 4/20/2009 10:46:00 pm No comments:
15/04/2009 09:48 - (SA)
at 4/17/2009 01:21:00 pm No comments:
at 4/17/2009 01:15:00 pm No comments:
at 4/17/2009 12:35:00 pm No comments:
at 4/17/2009 12:13:00 pm No comments:
at 4/14/2009 01:36:00 pm No comments:
BOSCHKOP – De moord op het Nederlandse emigrantenechtpaar Van den Bosch in Zuid-Afrika vrijdag was "politiek gemotiveerd" en een "voorbeeld van etnische zuivering". Dat heeft de president van de Transvaal Agricultural Union, een belangenorganisatie voor blanke boeren, zaterdag tegen Zuid-Afrikaanse media gezegd.
"De daders hebben bewust de indruk willen achterlaten dat het om een ordinaire misdaad gaat. Dit patroon wijst op etnische zuivering," aldus TAU-president Ben Marais.
Marais sloot uit dat het om een overval ging. "Het is moeilijk te geloven dat een ouder echtpaar wordt vermoord voor slechts een mobiele telefoon."
at 4/14/2009 01:25:00 pm No comments:
at 4/14/2009 12:50:00 pm No comments:
at 4/14/2009 12:21:00 pm No comments:
at 4/14/2009 12:17:00 pm No comments:
Apr 12 2009 10:26:10:097PM - (SA)
at 4/14/2009 12:15:00 pm No comments:
April 11 2009 at 02:31PM
A Pretoria couple were bludgeoned and stabbed to death in a vicious Good Friday morning attack which has left a farming community reeling.
The beaten body of Boschkop dairy farmer, Johannes van den Bosch, 63, was found by his son in an outhouse while the body of his wife, Jacobi, 60, was found in the couple's home early on Friday morning.
It is believed that Van den Bosch was overpowered as he walked into the milking stables and beaten repeatedly over the head sometime during the early hours of the morning.
According to police the blows were so severe that the left side of Van den Bosch's skull was crushed.
The killers then took his house keys, unlocked the kitchen door and entered the couple's double-storey house where they hid at the base of the stairs.
They attacked Van den Bosch's wife and stabbed her seven times in the back and side as she walked downstairs before they fled with two cellphones which had been left on a table; the only items they took.
It is believed that the killers left behind a substantial amount of money, firearms and other valuables, including expensive jewellery.
It is not known if Van den Bosch was coming downstairs to investigate a noise possibly made by her killers or whether she was on her way to make her husband's breakfast.
As police cordoned off the scene and specialised crime scene investigators searched the blood-spattered buildings, distraught relatives were comforted by neighbours and friends.
While DNA and other forensic experts searched the scene for clues, using state-of-the-art technology, others could be seen searching the smallholding and the surrounding area for clues with aid of sniffer dogs trained in the detection of body fluids.
Crime scene photographers took off in a helicopter to take aerial photographs for detectives from the Bronkhorstspruit tri-crime task team who are piecing the attack together to help them track down the killers.
Other investigators said the brutality behind the attack was marked.
"All I can say is that what happened in that house is horrible. It is really bad. No one deserves to die like that," said a police inspector.
He added that they were going all out to track down the killers.
"We will definitely find those responsible. That is a promise."
Police spokesman Johannes Jaftha said the attack had been extremely brutal.
"It is very bloody crime scene. A lot of force was used in the attack," he said.
Jaftha confirmed the killers had escaped with only two cellphones.
"There was no sign of forced entry and the house was not ransacked.
"At this stage we cannot say what the motive for the murder was. We are not sure if the motive is an armed robbery, or if there is another reason behind the killings," Jaftha said.
He said although no weapons had been found, crime scene investigators had found several clues and were following up on a number of pieces of information and were hoping to make arrests soon.
The Van den Bosch's son, Wim, who along with the couple's labourers found his parents' bodies, was too distraught to comment at length.
"We do not know what to say. It is too painful to speak," he said.
Rayton Community Policing Forum chairman, Abel van Aarde, said crime in the was once again on the increase.
"We had several big successes late last year which brought crime down, but it is clear new gangs are in the area and are killing our people.
"This has got to stop. We cannot carry on like this," he said, adding that if police could not bring crime in the area under control the community would step in to protect themselves.
This article was originally published on page 4 of Pretoria News on April 11, 2009
at 4/14/2009 11:58:00 am No comments:
April 11 2009 at 07:34PM
The attack on an elderly Pretoria couple was politically motivated and was an example of "ethnic cleansing", said the Transvaal Agricultural Union on Saturday.
"Once again the impression is left that ordinary crime is the motive for barbaric murders. In this case the farmer was first murdered while he was milking in the shed, and thereafter his wife was murdered in the house. This is the pattern of ethnic cleansing," president Ben Marais said.
Their son made the discovery on Friday morning, police spokesperson Johannes Jaftha said on Friday. The farmer was found with a "big wound on his head, while his wife had several wounds on her upper body, Jaftha said.
Marais ruled out robbery, saying it was "hard to believe that elderly defenceless people are being murdered only for a cellphone".
"What used to be a day of celebration for Christian believers, was turned into a day of mourning by these barbaric murders. We do not have the right words to express our condolences with the Van den Bosch family and we pray that God will help them through this," he said.
He called on the farming community to "stay alert and protect themselves where possible." - Sapa
at 4/14/2009 11:55:00 am No comments:
at 4/04/2009 08:31:00 pm 2 comments:
02/04/2009 21:08 - (SA)
Pretoria - Civil rights initiative AfriForum is taking the government to the Human Rights Commission for failing to protect three Pretoria women who were tortured and shot recently.
"It is high time for government to start accepting responsibility for its failures," said AfriForum's head of community safety, Nantes Kelder in a statement.
The government was not fulfilling its constitutional duty to protect its citizens, he charged.
AfriForum laid the complaint on behalf of three women who were attacked in a house in Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria in February.
Two men attacked Anna Myburgh, 55, her employee Paulina Moyana, 26, and her daughter in-law Edri Myburgh, 26.
"The victims were tortured during the attack, for example by burning them with a hot iron. Myburgh (Anna) was also stabbed several times with a knife. The three women were then bundled into the Myburgh's car..."
Myburgh and her daughter-in-law were dropped off along a farm road, where Anna was shot in the back of her head and Edri shot in the face. Both women survived.
The two men then drove off with Paulina still in the car. They were involved in an accident, in which she was paralysed.
"Article 12 [of the Bill of Rights] clearly states that every individual inter alia has the right neither to be tortured, nor to be treated in a cruel, inhumane manner."
He said AfriForum had asked the SAHRC to ensure the three women were compensated for the trauma they experienced, as well as for their medical expenses and loss of income.
"If the only way we can call government to account is the Constitution, this is the way it will have to be done," he said.
at 4/04/2009 08:24:00 pm No comments:
at 4/04/2009 07:58:00 pm No comments:
at 4/04/2009 07:47:00 pm No comments:
Apr 02 2009 10:03:45:393PM - (SA)
at 4/04/2009 07:42:00 pm No comments:
at 4/01/2009 09:14:00 pm No comments:
01/04/2009 09:33 - (SA)
"These are the employees of [the] municipality, therefore we are looking into the matter," she said, but declined to discuss the allegation that the ANC tried to keep the matter under wraps.
at 4/01/2009 09:10:00 pm No comments:
at 4/01/2009 09:04:00 pm No comments:
Mar 31 2009 07:44:43:567PM - (SA)
Vierfontein. – ’n Jong man wat moontlik “versteurd” is, is gisteroggend hier in hegtenis geneem nadat hy ná ’n moordorgie die verminkte lyke van twee boere op twee buurplase in die distrik agtergelaat het.
Dié 25-jarige Lesotho-burger, geklee in net sy onderbroek en hemp, is op die tweede moordtoneel in hegtenis geneem waar hy by die verminkte lyk van mnr. Jan van Wyk (82) besig was om ewe tuis die stoep te vee en kos te maak.
Lede van Vrystaat-landboubeveiliging, ’n veiligheidsfirma vir boere, het hom in hegtenis geneem. Van Wyk is vermoor enkele ure nadat mnr. Basie Venter (65) eergisteraand voor sy vrou met ’n hoekyster doodgeslaan is.
Een van die vermeende moordwapens en bebloede kraletjies is in landerye langs ’n leeukamp by Venter se huis begrawe gekry. Die skoene wat die moordenaar van Venter gesteel het, het hy glo elders begrawe.
Mev. Mary Venter (68) het omstreeks 21:15 hulpeloos deur die venster toegekyk hoe die houe buite op haar man neerreën. Sy het kennisse om hulp gebel, wat op hul beurt die polisie gebel het.
Hierna het die moordenaar in die middernagtelike ure verby twee plase na Van Wyk, ’n oud-polisieman wat net in die week alleen op die plaas gebly het, se huis gesluip. Van Wyk is na bewering na buite gelok waar hy met ’n graaf oor die kop geslaan is. Sy bewustelose liggaam is die huis ingesleep en daarna vermink. Mnr. Johan Engelbrecht van Vrystaat Landbouveiligheid was besig om Venter se moord te ondersoek toe ’n boer hom in die pad voorkeer en sê hy vermoed onraad by Van Wyk se plaas.
Van Wyk het nie soos gewoonlik vroegoggend op sy stoep gesit en Bybel lees nie.
Engelbrecht sê by sy aankoms op Van Wyk se plaas het hy die verdagte op die stoep gekry, waar hy besig was om die stoep te vee. “Toe hy my sien, het hy die huis ingehardloop en die deur agter hom toegeslaan.”
Binne die huis het die man met ’n snoeiskêr op Engelbrecht gewag. Hy (Engelbrecht) kon daarin slaag om die man te oorrompel en hom te boei. – Tom de Wet en Marisa Phillips
at 4/01/2009 08:50:00 pm No comments: