New turn in cold case probe
FORENSIC investigators are hopeful that the answer to the cold case mystery of paedophile Gert van Rooyen – unsolved for nearly 25 years – is buried beneath the sand on Blythdale Beach near Ballito‚ north of Durban.
Crime scene technicians lined the beachfront yesterday as an earthmover slowly excavated the beach sand above a concrete storm water drain.
The top of the subterranean drain‚ which abuts a public toilet set in the dunes‚ had nearly been exposed after a morning of digging.
Examination of the site is expected to take several days given the size of the area which needs to be unearthed.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Thembeka Mbhele confirmed technicians were excavating the site‚ but was mum on what had led them to the beach.
“We confirm the incident. However‚ no information is available as the members are still at the scene‚” she said.
The beach is believed to be a burial site for girls kidnapped by Van Rooyen in the 1980s.
Van Rooyen and his girlfriend, Joey Haarhoff, were accused of a spree of child kidnappings more than 30 years ago.
They are thought to have abducted and murdered at least six young girls between 1988 and 1989.
The investigation into Van Rooyen and Haarhoff remains an open police file with an assigned investigating officer. The victims’ bodies have never been found. Van Rooyen shot Haarhoff before turning the gun on himself when police were closing in on them in Pretoria after one of their last victims escaped and raised the alarm.
In 1979, he abducted two girls aged 10 and 13 and forced them to perform sexual acts, but released them two a day later in Pretoria.
He was arrested shortly afterwards and convicted on charges of abduction‚ sexual assault and common assault of the girls. He served three years of his four year sentence. – TimesLIVE