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20090324

Feb 2008 Elize Havenga ‘s accused killer in Pretoria High Court

 

200802 Eliza Havenga, Rietfontein, Pretoria smallholder rape/murder:

Havenga_Elize_RietfonteinSmallholder2008024MurderedMomofBabyArista Elize Havenga, 26, left. Her accused murderer Mitya Rammutla said: 'he raped and robbed her because he 'was thinking the wrong things in his head…’


March 24 2009 - Mrs Elize Havenga (26) was raped, robbed and strangled to death on her Rietfontein smallholding in February last year because her accused murderer, who was walking 300m behind her when she was walking to her homestead from the nearby highway, ‘started thinking the wrong things in his head...'  testified Mitya Richard Rammutla, 30, in his trial Pretoria High Court trial. He said after he raped her, he had also choked her with a wire ‘to give him time to get away’ – but denied that he intended to kill her. A police forensic expert testified however that the man had not only raped her, but had also sodomosed her, and that the wire he’d admitted tying around the young Afrikaans mom’s neck ‘had cut deep into the skin’...

Rammutla admitted guilt in the Pretoria High Court on March 23 2009 on charges of rape and robbery with ‘extenuating circumstances’, – but denied the murder charge. He admits ‘being responsible for her death, but that he didn’t intend to kill her’.

HavengaJan_BabyAristaSurviveFarmAttackMomElizeMurdered20080224RietfonteinAHMrs Havenga was murdered in February 2008 on her smallholding in Rietfontein, Pretoria, when her baby girl Arista. left with dad, Afrikaner artist Jan Adriaan Havenga, was just nine months old. Mrs Havenga had been dropped off at their smallholding by her brother-in-law Daniel Vrey after she’d had a row with her husband and was walking to her homestead on the smallholding’s dirt road, when she was raped and murdered.  Rammutla testified that he saw her being dropped off and was walking  about 300m behind her “when I started thinkng the wrong things in my head,’ he testified. He grabbed her, dragged her into the bushes, and he raped her. He said she was threatening to ‘have him arrested for what he’d done. So he tied a wire around her neck and strangled her. “I didn’t think she’d die,’ he claimed. “I just wanted the chance to get away.’

Police forensic expert Dr. Paul Lombard testified that the wire was twirled so tightly around her neck that it had cut into her neck. Besides being raped, she was also sodomised and there were scratch-marks on her body. The man took her cellphone and camera, which he sold for $700 he said. He burnt her handbag.  Police captain Steven Hermitage, head of detectives at the Welbekend police station, testified that one of his detectives was buying feed for her horse when she recognised one of the workers at the feed-store at Rammutla. Judge Lettie Molopa is on the bench. http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2490417,00.html

20090321 Johan Dreyer, 48, murdered,Pretoria AH, wife Sandra assaulted, dog poisoned
DreyerJohan48PretoriaMurderedMarch232009 Just 2 months before Pretoria businessman Johan Dreyer, 48, was going to be a granddad for the first time, he was shot seven times in his home and killed in front of his wife.

Mar 23 2009 Beeld journalist Daniel Maluleke  reports that
Johan Dreyer, 48, was shot seven times and killed this weekend in front of his wife Sandra (44) at their Pretoria West business, West Trailer II. Their dog was poisoned.

Dreyer_Sandra_survivingwidowofJohan murderedPtaWestTrailerII2--9323 She fought like a lioness, throwing glasses and CDs at the five armed attackers – who pistol-whipped her mercilessly in the face after killing her husband.

He owned the West Trailer II business in Chrome Street, Proclamation Hill in Pretoria West and their home is on the same erf, which according to the municipal land registration records, is sto;; listed as a smallholding. Earlier that night the couple had a braai with son Shaun, 24, his pregnant wife Lucia, 24, his sister Carla-Marie, 23, and the latter’s boyfriend Ronnie Scheltema, 23. The son said that only two hours later, they received the call that his father was murdered and his murder assaulted and inthe Eguene Marais Hospital. Their loot was a mere $20, two cellphones.The dog is in an animal clinic: they had poisoned him but he survived. Police captain Bonginkosi Msimango said no-one was arrested for Dreyer’s murder.http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2490406,00.html

20090222 Strijdom couple attacked on AH in Thabazimbi, two days after midnight arrest by six local cops…

StrijdomCoupleThabazimbiSmallholdingAttackMarch222009 Only two days after six policemen had arrived at their smallholding in the middle of the night on a false-arrest charge of Joos Strydom, 70, he and his wife Hannetjie, 71, were attacked and robbed. And the four armed men knew exactly where the safe was…

March 22 2009  Beeld journalist Marietie Louw-Carstens reports that four armed men attacked Joos and Hannetjie Strijdom at 11am, shortly before their daughter Trudie van Rhyn and husband Dewald showed up for a visit. The attackers were scared away upon their arrival – so things could have ended up a lot worse. Mr Strijdom was choked with a wire and tied by his hands and feet with wire coathangers. The old lady was bashed in the face, and also was shoved between a mattress and the box-springs while the the men sat on top of her, demanding to know ‘where the money was’. “They knew exactly where the safe was located, isn’t that a coincidence, just a few days after the police raided the homestead…’ said the daughter. When the Van Rhyn couple arrived, they knew something was wrong because the garage door was open. The men then fled, with Mr van Rhyn chasing them. He was unable to find them however. About R10,000 in cash, cellphones watches and jewellery were robbed from the safe.

  • Two days earlier, the couple had been awaked at around 23:00 by six armed policemen inside their bedroom after a tenant on their smallholding had lodged a false claim that Mr Strijdom had ‘pointed a gun at her’.
  • The old man spent the night in the police cells and appeared in Thabazimbi magistrate’s court the next day on a charge of ‘pointing a firearm’, which he denied. He was then merely released with ‘a warning’. Anyone with any information may contact the Thabazimbi police at 014 777 3512 http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2490410,00.html

20061127 Chris Nel, Gloudina farmer survives shooting with his dog, Wolmaransstad, five arrested March 23 2009

FarmMurdersMonumentSouthAfricaPietersburg March 23 2009 Carla van Niekerk of Beeld newspaper reports that five suspects of a farm attack in Wolmaransstad in NW province on 27 November 2006 were arrested. Farmer Chris Nel, 47 and his dog were shot in the head, but survived. Nel said five men had ambushed him at his homestead, with his own gun which they had robbed just minutes before while he was visiting with friends. “I was unlocking the kitchen door when they shot me.’ The bullet entered just above his left eye and exited from his skull.”I was knocked out for about two hours. When I woke up I realised they had also beaten me while I was unconscious. Us farmers are being murdered at a fast rate now,’ he told the newspaper. . He spent months recovering at Unitas hospital in centurion, and ‘they put plates in my head,’ he said. Nel was intussen lank in die Unitas-hospitaal in Centurion.
A family member had hired private detectives Wayne and Christian Botha  of EWB investigations -- after a local man had tried to exchange one of Nel’s stolen cheques at his bank.“

‘Shot dead a white pig…’

They changed the amount on the cheque from 150 to 6,900 and the bank contacted me,’said the farmer. This man was arrested and told police that ‘the man who had given him the cheque, said they had shot dead a white pig and stolen his guns’. This stolen cheque led the detectives to the alleged farm-attacks, and superintendent Lesego Metsi said they are expected to ‘appear in the Leeudoringstad court soon’.
http://jv.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2490420,00.html.

First black diving safety officer on SA sub

 

Lt-Cdr R_Beattie Lt LA Letsholo_DivingSafetyOfficersSASubMarch2009 March 11 2009 was the graduation of South Africa’s first black submariner the rather portly Lt L.A. Letsholo right with fellow graduate Lt-Cdr R Beattie.

Letsholo qualified as the diving safety officer on one of South Africa’s new, multimillion dollar German-made subs, the SAS Queen Modjadji-1.

After he and his fellow graduates had been dumped into the harbour as part of their formal graduation ceremony, the dripping-wet, barefooted Lt Letsholo said he was  ‘very excited’ about his new career in the Navy. He’s been trained as the sub’s diving-safety officer.

OTHER PICTURES:

 

LtCdrBeattie_LtLetsholo_SeaShabalala_SeaMoalosi 2009Submarines

The other new submariners on this graduation picture are from left Lt-Cdr R. Beattie, also qualified as diving-safety officer; Lt Letsholo; and two new submarine conrol room watchkeepers Seamen M. Shabalala and M.J. Moalosi. (click on picture for story).

The two officers completed 10 months training ashore, after which they successfully completed three weeks training at sea, before qualifying as Diving Safety Officers.

http://www.navy.mil.za/archive/0903/090313_Black_Diving_safety_officer/article.htm

The submarine was commissioned in Emden, Germany on 15 March 2007. Below is the crow at that time before it was taken back to Cape Town.

The crew of sas Queen Modjadji 15Mar2007GermanyCommissioning

http://www.navy.mil.za/forecastle/070220_OPERATION%20SIYAKHULA/070323_Sitrep08/article.htm