Poppie’s stepdad, mom guilty of murder

POPPIE: DOCTOR, SOCIAL WORKER, TEACHER, MINISTER ALL ‘FAILED’ Girl, 3, had already died of severe head injuries by the time she was taken to hospital.

Girl, 3, was assaulted and abused for eight months before her death.

Three-year-old Poppie van der Merwe was severely assaulted and abused for eight months before her death and her parents had foreseen the probability that she would die, a high court judge has found.

Judge Bert Bam yesterday in the High Court in Pretoria convicted Poppie’s mother, Louisa, 47, and stepfather Kobus Koekemoer of murdering Poppie and abusing her and a five-year-old boy.

The tiny blonde girl had already died of severe head injuries caused by blunt force trauma by the time she was taken to hospital in October last year. She had old and new injuries all over her body and her hair had been shorn off to the skin.

The boy testified that Koekemoer had pushed Poppie’s head into the toilet bowl and flushed it on the morning before her death, whereafter she stopped moving.

The parents blamed each other for inflicting Poppie’s fatal head injuries, but both said her head had been hit against the wall.

Witnesses said they had seen bruises on the children and a neighbour reported hearing beatings and the children screaming at night. Poppie was forced to walk around with a broken leg for two days before it was put in a cast.

Bam said the evidence was overwhelming that the two defenceless young children were repeatedly assaulted and abused over a long period and that Poppie had sustained the head injuries while in their care.

Both were present when the fatal blows were inflicted, knew what was going on and that Poppie was seriously injured. Poppie’s head was repeatedly bumped against a wall in the days before her death, causing her to lose consciousness, or “play dead”, as the accused described it.

There was no proof that either of them did anything to protect the children.

The judge expressed concern that very little was done, despite numerous reports to the Orania social council that the children were being abused.

The doctor, social worker, teachers and church minister for some reason failed to protect the children, certain people tried to shift the blame and it could even be argued that these people were accomplices, he said.

The trial was postponed to February 28 next year for pre-sentencing reports. –

Picture: Jacques Nelles GOING DOWN: Kobus Koekemoer leaves the High Court in Pretoria after the judge ruled that he and his wife, Louisa, were equally responsible for three-year old Poppie’s death.

Picture: Jacques Nelles TEARFUL: Louisa Koekemoer in court yesterday.