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20131230

Murder-rape of Jasmine Pretorius 4: angry protestors storm police van

The usually so peaceful Afrikaner community clearly wanted to kill the suspected murderer of 4-year-old Jasmine Pretorius when the 23-year-old uncle, face and jacket covered in blood, appeared in Brakpan magistrate's court on Monday December 30 2013. The case was postponed to January 7 2014.

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Johannesburg Dec 30 2013 -  BRAKPAN. Tempers ran very high on Monday outside the magistrate's court among the 1,000-strong crowd of pink-garbed protestors when the suspected killer of four-year-old Jasmine Lee Pretorius, (above) -- who has been already been identified on the social media as her reportedly drug-addicted and homosexual uncle Sarel, 23 --  appeared to be arraigned for the trial.  And after the court appearance, people continued to seethe, with reports at 3pm indicating that the Voortrekker street portion in front of Suenet Apartments where the little girl was murdered, has been closed: reportedly because people wanted to burn it down: 

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 PretoriusJolandeBrakpanCourtCrowdDec302013 PretoriusJasmineChristianMotorbikersEscorted1000MarchersToBrakpan

Above: When the 1,000-strong crowd of protestors -- escorted by the murdered girl's grandfather, pastor Colin Bam and members of his Jesus Disciple Biker Ministry (above) --  arrived at the court room after marching through Voortrekker Street, they were in a very ugly mood indeed.

  • Pastor Bam, the murdered girl's grandfather, is raising funds to pay for her funeral:
  • Meanwhile, the murdered girl Jasmine Pretorius' grandfather (tel. 082-469-4415 ) has also had to raise funds for his murdered granddaughter's funeral.  He said his daughter Sasha Lee Bam and the girl's father Morné Pretorius  were recently divorced; and Sasha is six months pregnant.  It is also believed that a local funeral home is also contributing to the costs.

The suspect - according to the SAPS and news media --  has 'already confessed'.  However the 23-year-old man made no statement in court  --other than to explain to the magistrate questioning him about his injuries and his bloodied jacket that he had 'fallen down'.  He gave no response to repeated questions whether he wanted a lawyer.

Meanwhile more horrific details emerge --

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This following account was written by Freddie van Niekerk: ("Freddy Vee Singer" of Garsfontein) on his facebook page: " This child is the (granddaughter) of my friend, pastor Colin Bam of Kempton Park, his daughter Sasha's little girl. Her parents Sasha and Morné Pretorius lived together in her father's home, they were not married but are no longer together. I think they have two children.The brother of Morné Pretorius is the man who raped and murdered the little girl. He initially said he had 'sold her to a Nigerian drug dealer for drugs' while he moved around her little body for five hours.First he hid her in the car's trunk, and later folded up her little body and broke it up to fit it into the washing machine.She was so badly broken up that her legs still cannot be brought together to have her body lie flat down.Then he hid her underneath the bed. Pretorius is now in custody at the Brakpan police station in the cells until the court case.Pray for my friend Pastor Colin Bam for strenght and determination. He asked me 'how can he ever forgive that man.' He said he 's a pastor and somewhere inside his heart he will have to find forgiveness or give up his Ministry.
He is a far greater man than I am.' 
https://www.facebook.com/fred.vanniekerk

At this first remand hearing the Monday following the little girl's murder, no charges were formulated and he was ordered to remain in police custody. And while Sarel Pretorius was not asked to plead, his identity and picture have already been widely circulated all over the social news media on Monday.

The pictures sent around  on twitter and facebook were already condemning him: headlined: "Sarel Pretorius, rapist and murderer of 4-year-old Jasmine'.

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 Journalist Mia Lindeque @MiaLindeque tweeted: "The 23-year old accuse is crying - refusing to make eye contact with the magistrate."  The case was postponed to 7 January 2014 in the same courtroom.  While people lit candles and prayed in front of the apartment building in nearby Voortrekker Street where the little Afrikaans girl's body was found, the social media in South Africa was awash with calls to bring back the death sentence -- specifically for him.

Afrikaner protestors stormed police-van, tried to break down the gates to the court room, shouting: 'give him to us'...

Outside the court a 1,000-strong crowd, many dressed in pink -- the last colour Jasmin wore before she was raped and murdered -- was described as 'rowdy' while they waited for the suspect's appearance. The atmosphere was described by journalists and police as 'explosive' and extra police were rushed in to stop the crowd from breaking down the gates and storming the courtroom.

PretoriusJolandeMarchersBrakpanCrowd Above: This was a very angry crowd: as soon as the  police van showed up with the prisoner, the crowd surged around and attacked it, screaming in Afrikaans: 'Give him to us.' An elderly man burst into tears. Pictures are also all over the twitter pages from South Africa showing people holding up placards demanding an end to child-abuse.

Father escorted from court room under SAPS-protection: granny and father of murdered girl escorted by Christian bikers group for their own protection....

The Jacaranda News @JacaNews tweeted from courtroom that the SAPS has asked the murdered child's parents 'not to return home: community members demanding answers from the parents'. 

  • The EWN-news tweeted:  @ewnreporter: "Police are now preparing to escort the father of little Jasmine out.  Angry community members want his blood." Minutes later EWN tweeted: "Community members are shouting at family members saying "if you guys weren't drunk all the time Jasmine would have lived."
  • Onlooker Karyn Maughan @karynmaughan tweeted: "Granny and father of raped, murdered 4 year old have to be escorted by bikers after community threaten them."

    Tweeter Angelique Angi Botha  writes on Boere Krisis Aksie: "I cannot believe I know that man. He's the lover of one of our friends. He's gay. So he's going to enjoy jail because he's housed there for free. He has already tried to burn down his lover's house, and stolen his stuff. And now he does this to his own brother's child. If I could see that guy just once he will no longer be a man. That child had her life ahead of her, now she's gone. It makes me so angry.'

    Chédene H ® @Chedene 

    tweeted on Monday Dec 30 at 15h00:  "They've closed the street where the flat in Brakpan is,  because the community wants to burn the flat down, saying family knew! #brakpanmurder 

    Mother: 'we must stop these terrible things from happening to innocent babies'

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The journalists tweeted from the courtroom that the suspect wore a cream-coloured jacket and that its back was covered in blood-stains; his face reportedly bloodied and bruised. When he was asked by the residing magistrate what had happened to him, he replied in Afrikaans: "I fell down'.  The young uncle stood head-down in the dock while the murdered girl's mom, Sasha Lee Bam,  stared straight ahead of her, not looking at her ex-husband's brother. 

She was quoted in a newspaper interview a day earlier that she seeks justice for Jasmine. "My little angel touched the world. Everyone must hear her story and we must stop these terrible things from happening to innocent babies'. 

This is the information currently known about the circumstances surrounding Jasmine's death:

Jasmine and her six-year-old sister were visiting with their dad Morné Pretorius. Their pregnant mother, recently divorced, remained at her own home. The two little Pretorius girls were left in the care of the grandmother, the uncle, and accused Sarel Pretorius' male boyfriend. The father had gone out to drink with his new girlfriend and did not return until the next morning. It was  the 'boyfriend' who reported on Saturday-morning at 07h00 that Jasmin was missing.

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  • "Jasmine has been found under my boyfriend's bed...'
  • When the alert went out over the Afrikaans-language social media site the Boere Crisis Action group (73,000+ members on Facebook), the child's father Morné was called and returned home to his flat. 

Amidst hundreds of twitter-messages which included many rumours about 'the uncle having sold her to Nigerian kidnap gangs', the search went on until 7pm. The uncle apparently was the main suspect from the start: the SAPS kept questioning him and all the other household members throughout the day, while the search went on.

The uncle remained adamant throughout the entire day that  he did not know Jasmine's whereabouts - and the grandmother also told the police she didn't know. Jasmine's mother confirmed to the news media that Jasmine was sleeping in her father's bed alone - and that her six-year-old sister was sleeping with their grandmother before the girl went missing. The father did not come back until the next morning when the alarm was raised.

The massive search was launched from 7am by the South African Police Services, coordinating a large number of volunteers from the Afrikaner community organized by the security-group Eblockwatch, the facebook group Boere Krisis Aksie and the grandfather's religious ministry's members.

It was reported that the SAPS detectives were still questioning Sarel Pretorius when he reportedly 'collapsed and confessed that he had strangled little Jasmin and hid her beneath his mattress."