Retired SAPS officer died after being tied to chair and hit with brass flower pot

RETIRED SAPS Lieutenant-Colonel Danie Dreyer, the owner of Jacaranda Funerals, was surprised in his bed by his attackers and hit several times over the head with a brass flower pot on the day he died.

This is according to a statement by accused Kevin Johnson (aka Zulu) to the police during a pointing out of the alleged murder scene at Dreyer’s Villieria home in Pretoria.

The statement explained in detail how Dreyer was at first tied to a chair and then hit over the head by Gerhardus Papenfus. He is facing an array of charges, including murder, in the North Gauteng High Court, together with Johnson and Dreyer’s former lover, Estelle Reddy. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The trial of a fourth accused, Ruvan Furst, was this week separated from that of his co-accused due to his health problems.

Dreyer was killed during the 2016 Easter weekend but his body was only found about a week later. It was discovered in a manhole in Capital Park and was so decomposed at the time that the cause of death could not be established.

Papenfus, said to be “a gangster”, claimed Dreyer died of a heart attack.

He and his co- accused admitted that they disposed of the body in the manhole, and that they poured caustic soda over it to dissolve it, but claimed they did not kill him.

This week Johnson, the last accused to testify in the trial, said he was invited by Papen- fus to go to Dreyer’s home to use drugs. Papenfus obtained the house keys from Reddy, who was at a party at the time.

Johnson said he was in the kitchen preparing the drugs when he heard a noise from Dreyer’s bedroom, where the 62-year-old was sleeping at the time. He said he looked down the passage and saw Papenfus pushing Dreyer back into the room with the brass flower pot. He claimed he did not see how Dreyer had died.

But the State, during cross- examination, read out a statement Johnson made shortly after the incident, in which he explained how they had surprised the sleeping Dreyer, whom Johnson referred to as the “old toppie”, in his bed.

He also explained how he held Dreyer’s arms, while Papenfus pinned his legs down on the bed. Furst held the elderly man’s mouth shut with his hand when Dreyer shouted for help. Johnson said, in his statement, that Dreyer at that point bit Furst’s finger.

They then placed him on a chair in the bedroom and tied him up, before Papenfus repeatedly hit him over the head with the brass flower pot.

Johnson vehemently denied that he ever made this statement. He said he knew nothing about the details which appeared on the document, as he did not witness any fighting.

He could not explain how it came about that he had some of Dreyer’s blood on his pants.

The prosecution also pointed out that Dreyer’s blood was found on an array of clothing which belonged to Johnson’s co-accused, ranging from socks to underwear. This indicated that there must have been a terrible fight that night, the prosecution said.

Johnson was adamant that this never happened, but he could not explain why the chair and cables with which Dreyer was tied were later destroyed by him.

He said he did assist in wrapping Dreyer’s body in a blanket and later helping to dispose of it, but he said Papenfus warned him that he would end up like Dreyer if he did not do as he was told.

Judgment will be delivered on Monday.

Danie Dreyer