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20110510

Murder-victim Gericke Smit blamed for own death

Murder-victim Gericke Smit was blamed for his own murder – one of his three black attackers who bludgeoned him to death, were found guilty of culpible homicide, the other two got off on theft charges:  father  appeals for stiffer resentencing, Pietersburg High court:

2011-05-09 Pietersburg lawyer Rampie Smit, 67, whose son Gericke Smit, 28, was blamed for his own murder, with the murderers claiming they had 'acted in self-defence' -  testified in PieSmit Gericke 28 Pietersburg beaten to death by three blacks with a shovel blamed for his own murdertersburg High Court yesterday about the circumstances in which he had found his murdered son in July 2009.

 The young Gericke Smit, right, was bashed to death by three black men, l, Terence Maredi, 25, Jan Lamola, 27 and Marius Mokgokong, 23,  in July 2009 in his father's lawyer chambers. (source: Marietie Louw-Carstens).

Smit Gericke 28 PIETERSBURG accused murderers TerenceMaredi_JanLamola_MariusMokgokong BEELDThe three black men originally were charged with murdering the young Afrikaner - but instead, judge Tati Makgoka had found Maredi guilty of culpible homicide and theft ; and Lamola and Mokgokong only for theft: they'd stolen Smit junior's car, cellphone and wallet.

The judge’s decision was entirely based on the hearsay-testimony of only one witness, a local pastor called Frans Senabuyo --  who had not even seen the incident,  but had spoken to one of Gericke’s attackers by cellphone afterwards. 

With a long line of witnesses still waiting to be heard at this point including police-experts,, the case was closed unexpectedly after the pastor’s testimony – and the court ruled that  the three black men had 'acted in self-defence and that Smit junior had been the aggressor.'

Father appeals

The victim’s father, lawyer Rampie Smit immediately appealed the ruling, lodging a formal complaint with the public prosecutor's directorate about the mishandling of the case by the state advocate Jeffrey Munyai. Munyai has now withdrawn from the case.

Smit Rampie got his son Gericke Smit murder case finding son was agressor overturned Yesterday, the father, left, testified that in Pietersburg High Court he would 'never be able to accept the apologies for my son's death by these men. I will never be able to accept the circumstances in which my son was murdered. I will never be able to accept my son's death. They should have killed me instead, not my child', the grief-stricken father testified.

Young Smit, described my his father as ‘too gentle for life… ‘ and who worked for his father, showed up with cash to pay two of the three men who were painting the office. The other man was visiting with his two friends. There was no disagreement about the wages, acording to the evidence before the court.

Smit senior testified in the Pietersburg high court yesterday that his son was a gentle soul who had never been involved in any kind of fight. "I always told my son you are too soft for live. Life is too hard on you,' the father testified. His son had failed to show up on Saturday 18 July 2009 - and the father spent a long time searching for him in Pietersburg until he looked inside his own building from the street - and saw his son on the ground."I opened the window with a stick. I then used the same stick to lift the bag from my son's head. I saw his face was full of blood and marks. One eye looked sunken and dragged down,' he testified. The appeal continues. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Ek-kan-my-seun-nooit-vervang-20110509

Previous ruling:

During the previous ruling,  state prosecutor adv Jeffery Munyai had unexpectedly changed the charges from murder to culpible homicide after cross-examining only one witness: the men's pastor Frans Senabuyo, who provided a hearsay statement about a phone call he'd received from one of his church members after the Smit murder. The pastor had not been present at the crime. Other listed witnesses who still had to be cross-examined on behalf of the state, including the police-investigator, a private investigator and the murdered man's father Rampie Smit who had found his body, were not called to testify at all.

The state prosecutor- who has since withdrawn from the case -  said only one accused, Terence Maredi (25) should be charged with murder and that he was the only one who had not acted 'out of self-defence'.

To back up his application to change their charge-sheet, Manyai handed in a statement by Maredi which read: "We grabbed Smit junior and assaulted him. He fell to the ground. I picked up a spade and bashed him over the head with it twice."

However this description did not match the post-mortem report of the injuries sustained by Mr Smit, also handed in to the court:  When found by his father, Mr Smit's head had been covered up by a tied-around green plastic bag: he had also sustained 17 deep, open slash-wounds to his face, head and arms; the handle of a plastic paint-bucket was used to try and strangle Smit; and the cause of death was listed as being 'the result of serious head-wounds'.

Pastor ‘s testimony came from a cellphone conversation afterwards - with one of the accused men:

The pastor, Frans Senabuyo, testified at the previous hearing that he'd received a phone call from Lamola who said that Smit had 'attacked them and that they acted in self-defence'. He wasn't a witness to the event, but testified that he had received a phonecall about it from Lamola that day. Senabuyo's testimony was that 'the three men were fighting with Smit' and that the young Afrikaner had been 'angry because Mokgokong was visiting with them while the other two were working'.

However, Senabuyo testified to something he had not even seen himself, but had merely heard about during his cellphone conversation – and this is referred to as ‘hearsay evidence’ under Roman-Dutch law and thus not acceptable as a statement about what had actually occurred at the crime-scene. Senabuyo testified: "The white man insulted him (speaking about Lamola)  and hit us with his open hand. Lamola then got angry and fought back. The white man took a hammer and wanted to hit Jan (Lamola)."

However, at this point, Judge Tati Makgoka did question the state-prosecutor from the bench: asking Munyai 'if the State could prove that the three accused had planned the murder deliberately' and if he knew where the hammer was located.'  Munyai could not explain: saying he did not know where the hammer had been located. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Graaf-moord-Verhoor-2-net-weens-manslag-20110426

Why are black SA men so violent?

  • SAPF sergeant Mnape Phineas Kgoale denied bail for Janet Odendaal's execution-style murder in April 2011: has a history of mental illness and alcohol-addiction…


ODENDAAL Jeanette witness Baloyi shows HOW SHE WAS EXECUTED BY COP Kempton ParkOdendaal Jeanette EXECUTED BY COP PHONED 10111 sergeant denied bail 4 May 2011 - Kempton Park journalist Gerhardt Theron writes that the  bail application of Sgt Mnape Phineas Kgoale (38), who is charged with the execution-style murder of Janet Odendaal last week, was denied bail in Kempton Park Magistrate's Court this afternoon. The terrified Ms Odendaal (45) was sitting inside her car, calling the police emergency number 10111, just moments before a police officer shot her dead execution-style while she was parked in front of the Kempton Park Police Station.

It has come to light at the bail application that Kgoale had booked himself into the Elim Clinic for alcohol addiction between March 26 to April 2 -- and had earlier in the year also been treated for mental illness. It also came to light that he ‘was in a very emotiional state because his girlfriend did not want to allow him to visit their six-year-old daughter’ because of these problems. It was not revealed at the bail-application why Kgoale was allowed back on duty, packing a gun when he was still in such an emotional state.He remains in custody until June 23 pending investigations. The Kempton Park police have also done everything they could to prevent the news media from photographing their accused colleague going into the dock – sending photographers on wild goose-chases from courtroom to courtroom.

http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/kempton-park/kempton-park-news-crime?oid=4381540&sn=Detail&pid=490121&Kgoale-is-denied-bail-in-Odendaal-murder-trial

Why is a 38-year-old black South African police sergeant suffering such extensive violence-related mental health problems? Indeed: why are black South African men so violent?

MATOANE prof Matshepo UNISA warns of psychotic violence in black Turbo_Aids infected men A top UNISA psychiatrist’s warning at the Saldanha military academy in September 2008 about the increasingly psychotic behaviour of black South African men who often are infected with AIDS combined with Tuberculosis – the combo-pandemic often referred to as ‘Turbo-Aids’, has gone completely unheeded by the ANC-regime.

One of country's top psychiatrists, UNISA professor Matshepo Matoane, picture,  already started warning from early 2008 that Turbo/Aids was creating a “highly dangerous psychosis among infected SA military men; that it was creating 'devastating psychological effects among such infected patients. They are often plunged into an exceedingly self-destructive, vengeful, dangerous-mindset”, she warned.She was speaking of the effects of this dangerous mind-set on soldiers - however her warnings apply equally to anyone who has access to dangerous weaponry, including of course police officers.

Matoane warned that infected men with access to ‘lethal, sophisticated arms and hardware formed a deadly threat to the security of the State.’ By September 2008, when Prof Matoane issued her warnings at the Saldanha military academy, a full 22,000 of the 55,000 SA military people (40%) were already tested and diagnosed with AIDS+TB co-infections. http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=1309

87 armed-violence deaths for every 100,000 black South African men: the world’s highest in 2008…

Why are black SA men more violent?

Based on the proportionally high number of black males in prisons worldwide, icluding in countries where the black-Africans represent a minority, there have been numerous studies undertaken in prisons to investigate whether this could be due to higher testosterone levels: which are known to increase male aggression.  Due to the political sensitivities involved and the never-ending ‘nurture-versus-nature’ debate, there probably never will be a definitive scientific study to determine the exact reasons for the recorded higher aggression levels amongst black males.

http://members.cox.net/jmhoward3/Testosterone%20and%20Socioeconomic%20Differences%20in%20Mortality.htm

However In 2008 in South Africa, armed-violence related death rates among all black men stood at 87 deaths for every 100,000 - the world's very highest.  In South Africa, there must be an additional factor involved in addition to the recorded higher testosterone levels of black males.

A secret parliamentary report tabled in South Africa raised the issue after publishing the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System’s records  on November 10 2010 by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. The report, tabled in parliament but still being  kept secret, said 'the core of the problem of violent crime in South Africa is a subculture of violence and criminality characterised prominently by young men who are invested in a criminal identity and engaged in 'criminal careers' which involve active criminal lifestyles.These lifestyles also 'incorporate multiple forms of violent crimes making common use of weapons - firearms, knives and other sharp-force instruments'. This gives the current epidemic of violent crime in SA its most malevolent edge, the report warned. It was partially published by Patrick Maynard, an opposition MP of the Democratic Alliance, who warned that it was far too important to keep secret.

http://www.CSVR.ORG.ZA/DOCS/STUDY/CSVRSTATEMENT091110.PDF

http://www.SAHEALTHINFO.ORG/VIOLENCE/NIMSS.HTM

AIDS-infected recruits into the military and police are not allowed to be rejected for health reasons – by law:

In South Africa, Matoane warned in her lecture at the military academy in Saldanha, she had personally found in her hands-on work in the field, that most of the AIDS-infected military men turn “increasingly mean, mutinous, dangerous and self-destructive. “They start staying away from their jobs, refuse to obey commands, and form a threat to all forms of authority.”

The top-secret government report warned that the chaotic conditions in the country’s military were causing a ‘threat to state security’. However the government still refused to publish all the details.Some were however read into the parliamentary record by Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier – who accused “Defence and military Veterans” Minister Lindiwe Sisulu of having ‘misled’ both parliament and the country by witholding her reports. http://longwalksincefreedom.blogspot.com/2010/11/sandf-morale-be-security-threat.html Maynier, who serves on Parliament's defence portfolio committee, said he would not allow the reports' contents to remain hidden.

Many thousands of  young, black South African men are falling victim to the lethal combination of AIDS and the co-infection with drug-resistant Tuberculosis - referred to in South Africa as Turbo-AIDS.  A joint testing programme carried out with the SA military and the US authorities called Operation Phidisa, showed in 2007 that infection levels among young black male military men stood at 40% in 2007 - 22,000 soldiers.  Special manuals were drawn up in the USA and SA on the way to identify and deal with AIDS-infected military people. The SA military then started refusing any recruits who tested HIV-positive because of their medical conditions.

However in May 2008, the SA Constitutional court ordered the SA military to no longer refuse any HIV+ recruits because it was 'unconstitutional'. The defence force lawyers' arguments that these ill soldiers were unable to carry out their duties and were “dangerous around military hardware” fell on deaf ears at the country's highest law court.And exactly the same laws also apply to recruits in the South African Police Force.

Extremely violent Turbo-Aids patients are a fact of life for hospital staffers

Prof Matoane's warnings can also be widely collaborated by hospital staffers treating patients – in SA they are often coinfected with TB and Aids. For instance at the  Jose Pearson TB Hospital in Port Elizabeth, three fences topped with coils of razor wire were built to keep patients infected with AIDS-XDR-TB from escaping…

Authorities deny TB is spread through airborne contact…

Especially around Christmas time and again around Easter, dozens of patients cut holes in the fences, slipped through electrified wires or pushed through the gates to spend the holidays with their families: “Patients , often very aggressive and defiant, would be tracked down and forced to return”. Local public health experts warned in 2008 that overcrowding and poorly ventilated hospitals “were a driving force in spreading the disease in South Africa”.

  • However by 2010, the public health officials claimed that ‘more research was needed as the exact causes for the rapid spread of the disease have never been determined…’ In 2008 the SA government decided that ‘the public would be safer if patients were treated at home, with regular monitoring by health workers and contagion-control measures for the family” That year at a Durban seminar, health-workers launched diatribes of anger about the high levels of aggression from their patients – and that especially the XDR-TB patients ‘often tried to infect workers by deliberately coughing all over them...”. In other words – the authorities know very well that this deadly epidemic is spread by human contact – yet are disregarding all the health warnings. Moreover, they have made laws which prohibit employers from barring such infected, often violent workers from the workplace anywhere in South Africa.   http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/03/24/world/20080325SAFRICA_index.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/world/africa/25safrica.html