Little Poppie’s mother, stepdad convicted of her murder

THE mother of Poppie van der Merwe, 3, and her stepfather have been convicted of her murder.

Gauteng High Court Judge Bert Bam convicted Louisa and Kobus Koekemoer on the doctrine of common purpose.

The pair turned on one another and blamed each other for the blow the child suffered to her head, which eventually led to her death. But Judge Bam said it did not make a difference who struck the final blow, the fact remained that Poppie as well as her brother, aged 5 at the time, were abused over eight months, leading up to her death in October last year.

He said the one did nothing to prevent the other from assaulting the children.

He also convicted the pair of child abuse relating to the boy.

The judge had strong words for the authorities in Orania, ranging from teachers, doctors to social workers, for not acting when they saw the bruises on the children’s bodies over the months.He said they failed to protect them and shifted the blame.

The trial was postponed to February 28, for pre-sentencing reports.

Kobus Koekemoer remained stonefaced after the verdict and rushed down to the holding cells after the judge left the courtroom. Louisa Koekemoer wiped tears from her eyes after speaking to her mother and her lawyer.

Judge Bam remarked there was no direct evidence before the court as to who had done what, but at this stage it was clear to him that the “people in Orania did very little”. He said he would, during his judgment, express himself more strongly in this regard.

“It is shocking that they would cover the abuse of children,” the judgesaid.

He said the court would have to rely on inferential reasoning as to conclude what had happened. The only person who gave direct evidence was Poppie’s brother, now 6, who testified in camera. Given his age, the judge said one had to be careful in evaluating his evidence.

The boy, who may not be identified, blamed his stepfather, who he repeatedly said killed Poppie. He said that after his THURSDAY DECEMBER 07 2017 stepfather had assaulted Poppie, his little sister lay still on the bed, with her Teddy Bear close to her. He said after this he “could never play with her again”.

He also testified that his mother did nothing, apart from standing in the doorway while his stepdad tried to revive the child with water in the bathroom.

“She (the mother) condoned this because she did nothing to help her child,” prosecutor Salome Scheepers said.

While the parents in the past blamed the school teachers and other for the bruises on the children, there were no one else than the accused present in the hours leading to Poppie’s death.

Scheepers said it was clear that after the couple had moved from Orania to Brits a few weeks prior to Poppie’s death, the assaults intensifiedbecause the authorities in Orania kept a close eye on the family, although they did not act.

“It seems that they wanted to catch-up in Brits for what they could not do in Orania.”

Scheepers said the pictures of Poppie’s lifeless body showed that there was hardly a spot where there was not a bruise.