Another tragedy at cliff hotspot
Locals tell of the moment two retired women plunged into the ocean in the latest Herolds Bay cliff tragedy
IT’S a sunny day in Herolds Bay. The school holidays are over and the crowds have left the popular Garden Route village. Here and there, local residents wander down to the shops or enjoy having the beach to themselves again.
In a local restaurant two elderly women are having coffee. Nicky van Niekerk and her partner, Lesley Briscoe (both 75), arrived here the previous week in their white Mazda. The women, from Krugersdorp in Gauteng, had been looking forward to their holiday. They told friends and neighbours in the Featherbrooke Hills retirement village where they lived that they’d visit friends and family in George before heading to nearby Herolds Bay for a beach break.
After booking into a local guesthouse, they called their neighbour, Anita Richards, who was watering their plants while away. “The weather is super,” Nicky told Anita. Later, Anita received a picture via WhatsApp with the caption, “Our view of the beach.”
It was the couple’s first holiday together in more than five years and they’d been excited about it, Anita says.
“Everything had been booked. They were relieved that Covid-19 hadn’t interfered with their plans. Like all of us, they needed to get away for a bit,” she recalls.
On the day they left, Anita got up early to see off her friends. She waved them goodbye, little realising it would be the last time she’d see them.
IT’S early evening when Chris Hattingh and his adult granddaughter, Danielle Terblanche, head home with their dog, walking along the cliff road past the Voëlklip lookout point. Here, at a spot known as Hansie se Bank (“Hansie’s seat”), 10 people have lost their lives in the past six years. It’s become as notorious for alleged suicides as the Van Stadens Bridge near Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).
As Chris and Danielle stop to take in the view, they hear the unmistakable sound of two gunshots in short succession. Then they watch in disbelief as a white Mazda about 70m away starts veering towards the cliff ’s edge and plunges to the rocks below.
“It was eerie,” Chris says. “We started running towards the spot.”
Moments later Chris sends a frantic voice note to the Herolds Bay WhatsApp group. “I’m here at the spot where people have driven off the cliff. A white car just went down. Please send help.”
NICKY and Lesley led a private life, Anita tells YOU. Although they were popular in the retirement complex and often did shopping for other residents, nobody knew anything
about their family.
When their bodies were recovered, a card with the details of the couple’s broker, Cheryl van Rooyen from Johannesburg, was found tied around one of the women’s necks.
“In case of an emergency,” was written on the card. Cheryl was also listed at the retirement village as their only next of kin. She declined to speak to YOU, asking for her privacy to be respected.
Lea Truwood, the estate manager, confirms Nicky and Lesley were a couple.
“They’d been together for decades. Their relationship started at a time when it was still hard to be openly gay, as people were less accepting than now. They were private.”
Lea says she had a lot of contact with Nicky.
“They were always taking care of everyone else. If someone had to go to hospital, they’d take care of their dog. They were the kind of people who only gave, never took.”
Lea says on the holiday register that residents are asked to fill out, the women indicated they’d be back on Monday, 22 February – the day their car went over the cliff.
Another Featherbrooke resident, Yvonne Agterberg, also confirms the couple’s caring nature.
“They often took my Yorkie, Misha, for his walk. They were fit and healthy, though Nicky started saying she couldn’t walk that far anymore because her back hurt.”
Yvonne says Lesley had been in the early stages of dementia.
“Nicky had mentioned that they’d eventually have to look for a facility for her.”
Anita says when she saw them off, Nicky had said, “See you next Monday!”
Later, she saw a note on their kitchen calendar under Monday 22 February, “Back home.”
She didn’t think anything of it when she saw two folders with documents neatly laid next to each other on the kitchen counter – one for Nicky and one for Lesley.
She didn’t think anything of it. “They always had their affairs in order.”
HEROLDS Bay locals are divided about the latest deaths, says Chris, who has a holiday home in the village. “It’s an emotional issue. But the reality is the lookout has now gained a kind of cult status because
The couple’s vehicle narrowly missed two crosses, one planted in remembrance of Heidi Scheepers and her two children, and the other for Werner Finger. They all lost their lives when their vehicles crashed over the edge. of the publicity and emotions surrounding the incidents there.”
Kenneth Field, chair of the Herolds Bay Homeowners’ Association, says the road to the lookout point is a provincial road that traverses private property. The road is the Western Cape provincial government’s responsibility and authorities have erected several signs warning motorists of the danger, he says.
“That road is safe, provided you take the turns slowly,” he says.
Meanwhile the residents of Featherbrooke are still reeling.
“We were all in a state. Everyone was in tears,” Lea says as she recalls the shock of hearing the news. “We loved them dearly.”
She refuses to believe it was suicide. “Why drive that far to end it all? We have a mountain nearby if they’d wanted to do that. I don’t know, I highly doubt it. I think it might’ve been an accident.”
She confirms that Lesley had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“It had progressed, yes, but Nicky was still completely fine. She looked after Lesley.”
Lea says the estate has a frail-care unit but as far as she knows, the women hadn’t made any arrangements in that regard.
“I think Nicky had been trying to postpone it for as long as possible. She loved Lesley deeply and I don’t think she wanted to put her in someone else’s care.”
At the time of going to print, police were still investigating the crash. Spokesperson Sergeant Chris Spies told YOU the firearms had been sent for ballistic tests but added he couldn’t release the autopsy report due to the “sensitive nature of the investigation”.