Gardener explains how he was afraid of accused

THE gardener of murdered Mooinooi couple Anisha and Joey van Niekerk said he was scared of Koos Strydom, the alleged mastermind behind the gruesome killings.

Zagaria Molepolle, who yesterday took the stand against Strydom, his wife, Mercia, and three co-accused, pointed his head towards where Strydom sat in the dock and told the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria: “I am fearful of him. I am scared.”

The State claimed Strydom orchestrated the cruel deaths meted out to the Van Niekerks in December 2017.

It is claimed the women were lured to Strydom’s plot in Mooinooi, where they were allegedly forced to sign a document in which they sold their plot to him. It is claimed they were forced to hand over their pin numbers for their bank cards and then tied up.

Further allegations include that Strydom, 52, and Mercia, 23, watched as co-accused Aaron Sithole, 26, Jack Sithole, 19, and Alex Modau, 37, repeatedly raped the women. The women were allegedly then hanged and their bodies set alight. Only Anisha’s body could be identified, although the cause of her death could not be established. Joey’s body could not be identified.

Anisha’s white vehicle was later found, burnt out, near Magaliesberg.

The women disappeared on December 10. Their bodies were only discovered some days later.

Molepolle testified that he saw Anisha driving past his house in her car. He could not see who was with her, but that was the last time he saw her.

He went about his duties on the plot the next morning, when Mercia arrived and gave him a set of spare keys for the Van Niekerks’ home.

Molepolle said he refused to take them, as there was no one in the house. Her husband, Koos, arrived later. Molepolle said he could see the man was angry. “He gave me the keys and instructed me to fetch Joey’s cellphone from the charger in the house.”

Molepolle said he was afraid of Strydom and he did as he was told. He had no idea why Strydom had a set of spare keys, as the women usually asked him (Molepolle) to take care of the animals when they went away.

The girlfriend of Aaron Sithole, Mokosi Modau, testified about their movements on the Sunday the women disappeared. She was not aware of the killings, but told the court how all the accused were together that day at the Van Niekerks’ plot, from where Strydom ran a panel-beating shop. At some stage all the accused left.

She said only Strydom and his wife returned to the shop. She left with them to go to Strydom’s plot, but Modau said that en route they stopped at a garage, where Strydom’s wife had filled a 20-litre can with petrol.

Modau told how she went along when some of the accused went on a shopping spree two days later, using two bank cards. When she asked to whom the bank cards belonged, she was told: “It was stolen cards from white owners.”

The case is proceeding.