Mom and daughter guilty of electrician's murder, but horror lingers for his family
For a loved one to be murdered is heartbreaking, but the horrific manner in which Petrus Scholtz’s life ended will haunt his family forever.
Beaten, bound and his head wrapped in cling film, Scholtz’s killers proceeded to stuff his body into a chest freezer before enjoying a braai together the following day.
In the Port Elizabeth High Court yesterday, judge Elna Revelas found Christine Russouw, 57, and her daughter, Chantell, 38, guilty of Scholtz’s murder, but for his devastated family, the verdict will not come close to erasing the memory of how their relative died.
With Christine’s son, Wayne, 33, already serving his life sentence for the same crime, the family at least have some semblance of closure.
But the fact remains that it is unlikely that the 70-year-old emphysema sufferer, a semi-retired electrician, could have put up much of a fight.
Describing his murder as entirely unnecessary, Scholtz’s family spoke out about their pain and suffering for the first time yesterday.
Scholtz’s younger brother, Johan, 64, said it had been difficult for the family to come to terms with what had happened, but now that the truth had come out thanks to the police and the prosecution, they finally had a sense of closure.
“We didn’t know how or why [Scholtz] was murdered in such a brutal way.
“We are happy with the outcome [of the trial] but it won’t make things better,” Johan said.
Johan and his sister, Anelene Gerber, 68, had driven from Jeffreys Bay to be at court every day of the trial.
Johan said he had been surprised to see who his brother’s killers were.
“We never doubted that they were guilty but we were surprised to see them when they first appeared.
“They don’t look like the type of people who could do something like this,” Johan said.
Revelas convicted the mother and daughter on charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances after finding that their versions of events could not possibly be true.
During the trial, both women gave varying versions of what had happened in the days leading up to and after Scholtz was killed on July 17 2018.
Both women claimed they were unaware that Scholtz had been at the house that night to collect a call-out fee for work he had completed the day before.
In her testimony, Christine said she had no knowledge of the plan to kill Scholtz but Revelas found that cellphone records submitted by the state had shown that her phone was used to lure Scholtz to their Woltemade Street, Kabega Park, home.
Chantell maintained her innocence and claimed when she went to sell electrical goods belonging to Scholtz at a nearby pawnshop it was because she was under duress from her brother, Wayne.
Wayne, along with Ronald Swartz, already conceded to their roles in the murder last year.
Wayne was sentenced to life imprisonment while Swartz was jailed for 25 years.
At the beginning of the trial, Swartz testified on behalf of the state and gave a detailed account of what had happened before, during and after the
murder. He claimed that all four of them had been party to the plan to rob Scholtz and that Wayne was the one who decided to kill Scholtz when he arrived at the house for his payment.
According to Swartz, it was Christine who cleaned up the blood on the kitchen floor where Scholtz had been beaten over the head with a bat before he was tied up and stuffed in a chest freezer.
The day after the murder, it was Wayne and Chantell who sold some goods and then bought meat to braai and alcohol to drink.
The four of them then sat and had a braai where the murder weapon was later discovered by the police.
The three Russouws were arrested on July 20, the day after Scholtz’s body was found dumped alongside a road in the Fairview area.
Revelas said the two women were extremely poor witnesses.
“Even with [Swartz’s] evidence coupled with other circumstantial evidence it was clear a plan was hatched,” Revelas said.
Revelas also found that the state had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Sentencing proceedings are expected to begin on March 8.