STILL UNSOLVED
OVER the past few weeks the Northern Cape has witnessed several brutal high-profile murders that has left the people of this Province reeling in shock.
The crimes all have one thing in common – the alleged perpetrators are still on the run and no arrests or breakthroughs in these cases have been made by the police.
One of them is a Douglas man, who allegedly hacked two of his family members to death with a metre-long axe.
The man allegedly chopped off the head of his 19-year-old nephew, Ferdinand Langeveldt, while he was sleeping in his bedroom before also hacking the teenager’s mother, Hendrika Langeveldt, 40, to death.
The man’s 80-year-old mother, Minah Langeveldt, is in a stable condition in the Douglas Hospital where she was admitted after he also struck her several times with the weapon.
The police’s inability to arrest the alleged attacker has raised concerns with members of the community, who still live in fear that they might be the next victims of the socalled “axe-man”.
Despite the fact that the man is known to the community, he has still not been arrested.
Meanwhile, the killers of Riaan “Lappies” Labuschagne, who was shot and killed at a diamond mine sorting facility near Windsorton on February 27, are also still on the run.
Labuschagne, 29, a senior worker at DMS, a diamond sorting facility close to the Holpan Mine, was found dead with two gunshot wounds, one to his left ribcage and the other to his right shoulder.
At the time, an eyewitness told the DFA that he saw three men flee the scene shortly after he heard two gunshots.
Although the police could not confirm if anything was stolen during the attempted robbery, an anonymous person has offered a reward of R100 000 for any information that could lead to the arrest and successful conviction of the perpetrators.
However, even a reward of R100 000 appears to have not helped the police in coming any closer to an arrest in the case.
Police are also searching for the killers of well-known Hartswater farmer, Gerrit Fourie.
Fourie, 68, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery last month.
His body was found in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor of his farmhouse after he tried to fight off suspected burglars who were trying to break into his house.
He was with his wife, Annetjie, 65, daughter, Christene Murdoch, son-in-law, grandchild and a friend, Maranda van Zyl, at the time of the incident.
Annetjie said that Van Zyl came into their bedroom to wake them up after hearing the voices of the intruders who were busy cutting the burglar bars.
She explained that her husband took his rifle and went outside. They later heard three shots and then another four.
“When it was quiet, I walked to the back door and found my husband on the kitchen floor. He was trying to stop the blood from a bullet wound to his inner thigh, but he was losing a lot of blood very quickly.
Nothing was reported stolen during the incident and Fourie died on the scene.
Although this incident happened several weeks ago, no-one has been arrested in connection with the incident.
In January this year the body of an unknown man was found stuffed into a suitcase which was thrown into the Vaal River in Schmidtsdrift.
The gruesome discovery was made by a group of children, aged between seven and 16, who were swimming in the river.
At the time of the incident one of the children, Shadren Joseph, said that the child who first spotted the suitcase floating in the river initially thought that it was a big fish.
Police spokesman, Lieutenant Donald Mdhluli, confirmed at the time that they were investigating a case of
WEDNESDAY
MARCH 12 2014 murder.
However two months after the incident, no arrests have been made yet. The identity of the man in the suitcase or where he came from has also not been released.
Police spokeswoman, Colonel
DIAMOND FIELDS ADVERTISER Priscilla Naidu, confirmed that there have been no arrests in all these cases.
“The investigating officers are working around the clock to ensure success. Community members are urged to assist and provide information relating to the apprehension of suspects. Information supplied will be treated in the strictest confidence,” Naidu said.
She added that there was no shortage of detectives and forensic experts in the Province.
“We have sufficient manpower to investigate cases,” Naidu added.