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20100910

Algerian tried for double-murder of Afrikaners

 

Algerian Martin Marzouk Berkouk on trial for Visagie couple murder 15 Dec 2009

Sept 8 2010 - Vierfontein, Orkney - French-speaking Algerian citizen Martin Marzouk Berkouk is on trial in Parys for the double-murder of Hendrik and Magda Visagie of the farm region Vierfontein near Potchefstroom on 15 December 2009.

VisagieHennieandwifeMagdamurderedVierfonteinMineShaftCarpenter According to testimony in his trial which started this week, Berkouk was caught because a petrol-station attendant, Shadrack Kgaole, 41, had spotted blood dripping from the man's car when he pulled up to refuel. The attendant had also noticed blood on the man's hand - and also noted that he was wearing a woman's ring. Witness Mr Kgaole (41), who works at a Caltex-station in Potchefstroom immediately concluded that the man 'had murdered a woman', he told the court.

The Visagies were not wealthy:

  • He worked as a mineshaft-carpenter at Anglo Ashanti’s Tau Lekoa-mine near Vierfontein. The couple lived near the mine in a rental homestead on the farm Weltevrede – right next to a cottage where Berkouk was living with his girlfriend. However the Algerian denies killing 54-year-old Hendrik Visagie and his wife Magda on December 15, 2009.

Kgaole said that he'd arranged all kinds of schemes' to get the suspect man in direct view of the petrol station's security cameras, and keeping him busy by checking the oil and tyres,
And while Kgaole was keeping Berkouk busy, the suspect 'with blood on his hands asked for soap'... the attendant testified.

Berkouk went to wash his hands and then washed blood from the rear sit of the car. Kgaole also noticed that a bullet had fallen from Berkouk's pocket. Kgaole still warned the Algerian man as Berkouk departed that 'he should not drive faster than 90km/h because 'your car engine will stop'. He told the lie to gain time, he testified. He also wrote down Berkouk's number plate and the police was warned.

Warrant-officer J A Uys and constable G J Visagie arrested Berkouk in Fochville. Police forensic experts examined the car after a large puddle of blood was found in the boot of the car. Uys testified that Berkouk claimed that the blood came from a goat which he had hit and then transported. The car he was driving was registered to the murder victim, Mr Visagie. Uys testified that he asked the Vierfontein SAPS to investigate the Visagie 's farm-house. Uys also testified that Berkouk was searched and Mrs Visagie's ID-card was found on him. The SAPS found a broken window, a large blood-stain inside and bloodstained dragmarks inside the homestead. Mr Visagie's body was found later that afternoon outside Orkney, and Magda Visagie's body was found next to the N12 highway. She had bullet wounds in the head and hands and also was assaulted 'with a blunt instrument'.
The trial continues.

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bloed-laat-joggie-lont-ruik-20100907
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/12/visagie-couple-murdered-on-fs-farm-dec.html
http://www.farmitracker.com/reports/view/542

Following is the SAPS version of the arrest of the Algerian suspect:

Visagie, Hennie and Magda, murders, Vierfontein, Algerian citizen arrested
"This lady, through her dedication and committment as a South African citizen assisted the police in making a speedy breakthrough in the murder of a couple in Vierfontein. She did not let her relationship with the suspect hinder her from doing what is right by law, and for that we applaude her" said Provincial Commissioner Mashigo.

  • The suspect, the French-speaking Martin Berkook, an Algerian citizen, made his first appearence in the Vierfontein Magistrates' Court on charges of murder. The case has been postponed to 14 January for further investigation. Martin, 26 years old, was arrested at about 05:00 on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 at a petrol garage in Potchefstroom. The police were called after petrol attendants noticed something suspicious about the suspect. It is alleged that the suspect poured petrol and tried to pay with a debit card but did not know the secret pin code, and then he was seeing washing hands that were bloody. On arrival the police noticed that the BMW he was driving had blood on the back seat and in the boot, but could not link him to any crime at that time. They arrested him while investigating.

Shortly after his arrest, the suspect's phone rang which led to the development of the whole case. It was his girlfriend on the other side and the police answered. They enquired from the woman if she knew anyone named Visagie because the police discovered that the BMW belonged to a Mr Visagie. The girlfriend did not know any Visagie and knew that her boyfriend did not drive a BMW, that was enough to make her suspicious. She knew that her neighbours were driving a car that fitted the description, and went to investigate.

It is alleged that the suspect, his girlfriend and the Visagies were staying in neighbouring rented houses on Weltevreden farm in the Vierfontein district. The girlfriend knocked at her neighbours' house and when there was no answer, she peeped through the window and noticed blood in the sitting room. She then phoned the police in Potchefstroom and Vierfontein. The Potchefstroom police arrived with the suspect and assisted with investigation.

Through the police helicopter they were able to locate the bodies of the couple. The body of the husband, Mr Hennie Visagie, was found in the veld 10 km near Orkney with a gun shot wound to the head at about 12:45, and Mrs Magda Visagie's body, was found 20 km to Potchefstroom at about 17:00 also with a gun shot wound to the head. Both deceased were in their 60s.

A 9mm pistol that belonged to Mr Visagie was found in the house, and was sent for forensic tests so as to determine whether it was used as the murder weapon.

SAPS rank:     Warrant Officer
Surname & Initial:     NP. Mbambo
Telephone No:     (051) 5076472
Cellphone:     0824556030
Email address:     fsprovcommun@saps.org.za
http://www.sapsjournalonline.gov.za/dynamic/journal_dynamic.aspx?pageid=414&jid=17915

Murdered Afrikaner found in CBD Vanderbijlpark

Renoe Janse van Rensburg, 43, CBD building caretaker, Vanderbijlpark, murdered Sept 9 2010

Renoe Janse van Rensburg, 43, was found murdered in broad daylight in the centre of Vanderbijlpark on Thursday, September 9 2010. Beeld journalist Sonja van Buul, who also took the pictures, writes that Janse van Rensburg was a caretaker of a building in the CBD.  http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Wag-kry-vermoorde-man-se-lyk-op-plein-20100909

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 SAPS warrant officer Kinnie Steyn said a security guard, enroute to his job, found the murdered Afrikaner’s body in the Stephen le Roux square.

A 30-meter-long blood trail led the investigating police to Janse van Rensburg’s burnt cellphone, which was found smouldering in a large fire. There were ‘signs of very serious assaults and dragging marks on his body,’ said the police spokesman.  JanseVanRensburg_Renoe_caretaker_found_dead_VdBijlparkSept82010_BODY_AT_DOOR

Picture above: the SAPS claimed that only his shoes were missing – but there were no other indications that any other personal possessions may have been robbed.  (What is he seen wearing on his feet in this picture though, socks or shoes?)

Janse van Rensburg’s elderly parents were informed of their son’s gruesome murder shortly after the find.

Also: Note the lack of gloves amongst some of the investigating police officers below, polluting the crime-scene with their fingerprints... http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Wag-kry-vermoorde-man-se-lyk-op-plein-20100909

 

JanseVanRensburg_Renoe_caretaker_deadVdBijlparkSept92010_COPS WITHOUT GLOVES

KZN farmers fight back against attacks

 

Tragic murders bring SA Community Action Network to KZN’s rural farming area


Brian Jones of the SA Community Action Network writes: “On your behalf Teresa Davie, Victoria Russell, Mark Pitout and I, supported by the Head Office Team of the SA Community Action Network, have been working extensively in the rural farming areas amongst extremely violent criminals.  Blood is just spilling everywhere and the farmers and their staff are suffering tragic, tragic days.


THE RALFE MURDER:

“Brian Jones – addressing Australia”: writes:

In March (2010) I was called to help a family in Colenso that have turned into such great friends like you all, the Ralfe's. In this tragic incident James' father, Nigel Ralfe, was shot although unarmed, severely severely beaten and then put on his knees to be executed.  He ducked and the bullet lacerated horizontally across the back of his neck. James' mother, Lynette Ralfe, was not so fortunate.  She was shot three times and died running to the room to press the panic button.

Ralfe Nigel TheWitnessPic_wife murdered farm attack report BBC

Above: English-speaking SA farmer Nigel Ralfe  told the BBC after the murder of his wife Lynette in March 2010: ‘calling for the murders of all white farmers (by Julius Malema, ANC youth league leader) is stupid and irresponsible. The farmers are the food-producers for millions of people. It seems to me as if they are trying to kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs…’

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James' three little girls were being bathed by their grandmother at the time.  It was incredible that the little girls aged 20 months, 4 and 5 years old were not raped as they ran naked amongst the suspects. Along with their grandfather the little girls made their way to the main bedroom where they sat next to Lynette's body. Eventually Nigel managed to make a call to James, who was with his incredible Queen Sally.  They were in Cape Town to participate in the Argus Cycle race. These words, and this case, were one of the reasons I immersed myself and you into helping the rural areas...  "James, Mom is dead, what must I do with the girls?"   Imagine if that was your call and you were 1600km away!  You see Nigel was bleeding out after an hour and a half of beating, being shot twice and being dragged from one side to the other... well it was incredible he was still alive.  Again the SAPS have been amazing and have four out of six suspects in custody. They even tracked and chased one of the guys down in Johannesburg. BBC Article and Audio Interview with Nigel Ralfe http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2010/04/100407_outlook_south_africa_ralfe.shtml

THE KARG FARM MURDERS, July 23 2010:
At the subsequent inception of the SA Community Action Network’s Rural Family development I anticipated that we had nine months to establish our local systems so that the community and role-players would be in a position to respond effectively to the next major incident.  This was based on the stats and I was so wrong.  My heart was torn when the next call came from Mooi River in July.  In the Mooi River / Cameberge area the triple murder at the Kargs farm was just such a wakeup call. The SAPS did an incredible job of arresting all the suspects and sadly one was shot dead at the police station. I firmly believe that death is too easy for such a violent criminal but yet again I was proud that the SAPS defended themselves from this human being as he tried to attack them whilst attempting to escape, unlike when he attacked an unarmed family like the Kargs.  This human being was terribly violent and was a staff member who had been trusted.  The gang slit Lorraine Kargs (58) throat, shot domestic worker Hilda Linyane (34) in the head and stabbed gardener Zachues Mhlongo (66) multiple times before slitting his throat.  They then (lightly) beat up a child in the house. links: The Mercury News Report    Times SA Guardian News Reports

71 farm murders in Colenso, Winterton rural areas since 2001
Since 2001 there have been 17 Farmers and around 54 staff / community members murdered on 83 farms in Winterton, Colenso and surrounding areas.  In every attack a human being in this area has a 49% chance of dying in the first 5 minutes of the attack or house robbery.  Unlike the urban areas the single greatest advantage to the very, very unprofessional criminals is that they have time on their side.  Whilst in the urban areas the overall experience of what we term a "long attack" is 15 minutes, in the rural areas the shortest attack I have come across was 50 minutes whilst the longest was 33 hours.  The challenge for the farmers and their staff is simply getting a message out that they need help. Contrary to popular belief, one of the bridges I have to cross within the community is to highlight that overall the SAPS are doing all they can.  Whilst some meetings have been taking place they are normally with Ranking Officers. Farmers and staff have almost no relationships with the SAPS members on the ground, let alone other organizations such as RTI, Public Safety, Careline Crises Center, Jes Foord Foundation, NetCare, ER24, the security industry, technology development role-players and so on.  The single greatest challenge is developing trust and convincing all parties that there is a solution in working together.  At grass roots, right now, the farmers are divided into pockets of associations of around 30 Farmers in each (and some 27 associations), with no collective approach with their staff or other associations.
http://www.sacan.co.za/?p=1281

100 poachers invade a farm near Colenso with their hunting dogs 8 Sept 2010

This past weekend we had 100+ poachers brazenly take over a farm near Colenso with their hunting dogs, for sport.  This resulted in a Blesbok suffering multiple bite wounds and having its throat ripped out.   However, for the first time as a very small SA CAN Rural Family, we fought back hard and fast alongside the SAPS by activating 536 Farmers and 40 operations role-players from our pilot project area (Mooi River through to Dundee). The response was incredible and it was not long before the suspects fired a shot and clashed with the Police and farmers.  I was 120km away and all I wanted to do was get into some magic machine and teleport myself to the scene to help all the guys on the ground.  Five suspects were arrested, seven hunting dogs were shot and a vehicle was recovered (SAPS Colenso 8/09/2010). I was just so relieved that no one was hurt as it is NOT a SA CAN value to ask the public to join the hard, life-threatening fight in the trenches, so to speak.  In the farming areas the only solution is FARM INVADED COLENSO BY 100_PoachersInvadeColensoFarmWithDogsSept82010to arm the Farmers, their staff and the Police with the tools to network with each other and to form a co-ordinated group to fight off the 1% of serious and violent criminals.  Whilst this was a great start, and our first major in-progress emergency, it highlighted a major weakness which we were working on anyway. http://www.sacan.co.za/?p=1281

Street Watch, Township SOS started:

We are in the process of getting the farmers involved in our normal SA CAN Street Watch, Workers for Safety and Township SOS strategies which you are used to with the street champions, cells and precincts and carefully planned to make sure they are in line with the SAPS Sector Policing, Block Numbers and Clusters.  This will ensure that the structure is a strong community muscle for the SAPS and, of course, to each other.We believe the key to all and any solution to the security challenges in the farming area is reliable communications. The now disbanded Marnet system served this function in the past. 

Whilst our SMS communications are effective the rural areas experience other problems such as intermittent signal reception. We are therefore investigating up to date radio systems with independent advice from both Johannesburg and Durban City Disaster Management which will meet the needs of the farming community.   A meeting is to be held for all Chairmen, vice chairmebn and key emergency service roll-players.

  • Farmers need two-way radio network in Colenso/Mooirivier area:
  • Enter the greatest challenge to-date to face our Proudly SA CAN Family - we need to help the farmers establish a two-way radio network in this pilot area.  They simply cannot do it alone and I will be appealing to all of you and the greater community to help financially support our new Family members, which includes both Farmers and their staff.  I firmly believe this will arm those in this network with a razor sharp sword to stop the blood from flowing.  Naturally this is all in support of SAPS efforts, of which we are so proud.  We will not take a step forward without consulting and taking instruction from them!

So you might ask why I should even care to be involved in this as I have my own community to look after... which you Brian have always told us to do! Yes, this is true, but if we continue to lose the Farmers and staff at this rate who will feed us? 

  • Who will look after our beautiful Midlands that we all rush to on weekends to get away from the pressures of urban life? 

Our country is showing signs of destabilizing:

Our country will start and in fact I believe is already starting to show signs of destabilizing, and the roots of this is in our rural areas.  Besides which, these are our fellow South Africans, our brothers and our sisters!All this tells me is that we need to work harder and faster in our Proudly SA CAN Family efforts, and in no way should we ever give in or ever give up! It is a privilege to hold your life in our hands alongside the SAPS, RTI, Metro Police, Security Companies, Careline Crises Centre, Jes Foord Foundation, NetCare 911, ER24, LEMA, VEMA, CEMS, SA CAN Street Watch and Rural Safety Committees.

  • As a parting shot, I thought deeply about the fact that if one man can change a country after 27 years of dedication and passion, how much more can a Proudly SA CAN Family do?  Inspire your friends today with your SA CAN Family and help each other to bring about the change we are ALL striving for!Should any of your family or friends wish to join our Proudly SA CAN Family they just need to email us on JOIN@SACAN.CO.ZA- we will get back to them and look forward to welcoming them.
    South AfriCANS, I LOVE YOU!
  • Brian Jones
    Chief Executive Officer
    Mobile: 083 799 1916

SA Community Action Network
24hr SOS Support Line //
0861672226
24hr Duty Manager //
0837991916
Admin &  Help-Desk //
0861623646
Fax // 0317654744

http://www.saCAN.co.za

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2010/04/100407_outlook_south_africa_ralfe.shtml

http://www.themercury.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20100723121024916C473763

http://www.sacan.co.za/?p=1281