Activists highlight poor investigation

HE WAS barely 20 when he packed his bags and left the rural town of Williston in search of work so that he could build a better life for himself and his family.

Knowing what it was like to grow up without money, Dawid Olyne said goodbye to his parents, younger sister and brother, and travelled to Ceres.

There he found a job at a local food and meat supermarket, a job he grew to love, although he believed his true calling was in fashion design.

With his charm, humour, good looks, quirky phrases and character, he made friends quickly and easily won the hearts of his colleagues.

But a few years later, his life was cut short when he was brutally assaulted, strangled and set alight at a pump house near Ceres, robbing his family of the income he sent them every month.

The March 2014 crime sent shockwaves through the community, especially when reports emerged that Olyne was gay and had been targeted because of his homosexuality.

Christo Oncke, 29, is being tried for the murder of Olyne, who was open about being gay and who won several beauty pageants.

“The effeminate, gay man is easily dispensed with. It’s easy to get rid of a moffie,” Sharon Cox of gay rights organisation Triangle Project said this week as she told Weekend Argus that she believed it was a hate crime.

The organisation, with representatives of NGO Sonke Gender Justice, sits in court daily to monitor the case’s progress.

“Bella Vista is small and the people have a strong sense of community. Very early on there was discussion on what took place that evening. When we stepped in they saw us as people who would listen and certain facts were brought to our attention,” Cox said.

By that time the investigation had been stagnant for six months and a new investigating officer had been appointed.

The residents were upset and claimed that police didn’t bother to delve deeper once Oncke was arrested.

The two organisations did some digging of their own, spoke to Oncke’s family and compiled a file which contained a list of names and addresses of people who had crucial evidence, Cox said.

“Things like clothes being washed at 3am and people boasting about their involvement. Not one of those people has been interviewed,” she said.

The organisations believe Oncke didn’t act alone.

Cox and Lakay said that it was clear to them from the beginning that the case was poorly investigated.

“If we hadn’t stepped in, this would probably have been swept under the carpet,” Cox claimed.

VICTIM: Dawid Olyne.