OLIVIER: Lauren, 28, Sunningdale, KZN; 06 Sept 2007
Lauren Olivier, 28, was left tied up and gagged while dying with 40 wounds after she had called him 'a kaffir', claims gardener Makhela Johnson Thabethe in a signed confession... he'd only worked there a month...
Censorbugbear & ILuvSA
26-Oct-2008 DURBAN HIGH COURT. South Africa. The man who had killed Sunningdale KZN mom Lauren Olivier in her luxury home on Sept 6 last year, confessed to his crime before a Durban High Court judge on Monday - but while the prosecutor accepted his guilty plea, she also warned the judge that it was not necessarily the whole truth.
"We cannot gainsay his version," state advocate Yasmin Vahed said of Makhele Johnson Thabethe's written plea... The judge agreed, sentencing the gardener to 30 years in prison.
According to the forensic report in the court documents, Mrs Olivier had suffered more than 40 puncture and stab wounds - not 19 as initially reported. The ferocity with which Mrs Olivier had been killed had sent shockwaves through the close-knit Sunningdale community. She was bludgeoned and stabbed while the young mom, still frail from childbirth, was also holding her baby, Jack.
The gardener claimed that she'd called him a kaffir and had refused to pay his day's wages... so he'd beat her with a monkey wrench, then stabbed her repeatedly, tied her up and gagged her to stop her from raising the alarm - and then just climbed out of a window and left.
Thabethe, pictured above, this week confessed to bludgeoning and stabbing the frail young mom but also wrote in his confession that he 'had left her baby unharmed'.
He then stole a mere R70 ($6,50), her cellphone and MP3 player and went into hiding for over a year. The police investigating team however regularly conducted interviews with the suspect’s family and never gave up trying to find him.
Eventually, they had found the suspect hiding inside his family's house. He said in his confession however that he'd decided to go home and turn himself in because he felt guilty.
The chairman of the Durban north and Umhlanga community policing forum, Haden Searles, said Mrs Olivier’s widower Tony was “pleased” with the arrest. “He is happy about the arrest but it has opened up a lot of hurt and bad memories for him,' said Searles.
Her father Lindsay Shankland said they'd had only one question for her killer: Why? "We have battled with this so much, and all we want to know is why he did it," Olivier's father Lindsay Shankland said. And while the breakthrough in her murder 'would help with the healing process, it would in no way provide closure. An empty feeling would be with us; my wife and my two other children forever ,' her father told the news media.
According to her murderer's written confession, the young mom had been carrying baby Tony when Thabethe had followed her into her Sunningdale home from the garage, had bludgeoned her with a monkey wrench he had brought with him from the family's garage, and had then stabbed her repeatedly, and then gagged and tied her and left her next to her unharmed baby. He appeared before Judge Mohini Murugasen in the Durban High Court with his guilty plea.
With no witnesses to the crime itself, the state prosecutor said they were 'forced to accept his version of what happened on that afternoon.'
Thabethe said in his written statement that he had worked every Thursday for the Olivier family for only about a month, earning R60 after each day worked. On September 6 last year, he 'd arrived at work 15 minutes late and Olivier said he would have to work until 4.15pm that day to make up the lost time.
"At 4.15 I reported to her that I had finished my duties and was ready to leave. She said I could not and that I must move some cardboard boxes in the garage and clean it." The gardener said in his confession that he'd 'explained he needed to leave' and that he'd asked for half his wages. But Mrs Olivier said she would not pay him at all if he did not work in the garage after being late for work that morning. He said Mrs Olivier, carrying her baby, had followed him into the garage and called him "stupid", a "kaffir"and had sworn at him.
Angry and upset, he'd picked up a monkey wrench from the garage, ran behind her as she walked into the house and had bludgeoned her over the head.
She was still carrying her baby after this first attack with a heavy monkey-wrench, but then, he wrote... "Mrs Olivier grabbed hold of my left arm. I managed to free myself and picked up a knife in the kitchen and started to stab her as she approached me. She fell to the ground," he said. Thabethe said the alarm went off and he climbed into the ceiling to disconnect it. "I became scared of what I had done. To prevent her from alerting the neighbours, I tied her hands with a shoe lace and put a sock in her mouth. I did not harm her baby."
He said because he had not been paid, he then went to the bedroom and took R70 from Olivier's purse, a cellphone and MP3 player, and left through a window. A few days later he went to Nqutu township, where he lived until October this year. I felt guilty about what I did and returned home. I told my mum that I wanted to hand myself over to the police and she called the police," he said.
Defence advocate Thiagaraj Pillay suggested that Thabethe 'had lacked maturity in dealing with the provocation...' He admitted however to 'the brutality and severity of the crime', but also argued that there were 'substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the legislated minimum sentence of 15 years." However state prosecutor Vahed firmly disagreed, asking the judge to impose more than 15 years. She pointed out that Mrs Olivier had 'suffered more than 40 "puncture and stab wounds".
"He knew that she had recently given birth but he left her mortally wounded with her 2-month-old baby," she said.
The judge concurred: he sentenced the gardener to 30 years in prison - double the sentence asked for by the prosecution.
» » » » [Witness; IOL; East Coast Radio; via: ILuvSA & Censorbugbear]
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CARTER: Cheryl , Buckingham Lane, Jhb; 12 March 2006
Live-in maid of 13 years hired a sangoma/traditional healer to rob and murder Ms. Carter for fear she was going to lose her job, if they moved to security village.
Beeld
For the “evil and sinister” manner in which a domestic worker hired a traditional healer to rob her employer and murder his girlfriend, the woman and her conspirators need to be sentenced to life imprisonment, demanded the State.
In the Johannesburg High Court, Adv. Elaine Moonsamy, the Prosecutor, accused Ms. Zodwa Ngema (51) of being the “mastermind” in a murder “motivated by malice”.
Judge Philip Hattingh found Ngema guilty in April of the murder of Ms. Cheryl Carter on Sunday evening 12 March 2006, and Mr. George Janssens in his home in Buckingham Lane by robbers who tied them up.
Carter was stabbed twice in the head with a knife, and died two days later in the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.
Ngema had been working as a livein housewoerk for them for about 13 years.
Two days before the attack she approached Mr. Bheki Mahlangu (26), co-conspirator and tradtiional healer from Alexandra, and asked him to murder Carter, whereupon he contacted Mr. Lybon Makhubela (24) for help.
The motive was because Janssens was being pressured by Carter to move to a security complex, which meant Ngema would lose her job.
Hattingh found Ngema, Mahlangu and Makhubela guilty of murder and two of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Mahlangu is also found guilty of the unlawful possession of a weapon and ammunition. Moonsamy informed the court that all three accused deserve life in prison.
“Ngema abused her position of trust and in the most cruel, inhuman and humiliating manner she bit the hand that fed her.”
She pointed out that Janssens was 71 years old when he testified in court for the state, and consequently the couple were an elderly couple who were attacked.
“The accused undoubtedly considered the fact that they were an elderly helpless couple, and used such to their benefit,” said Moonsamy.
Additionally there were no factors pointing to any mitigating circumstnances for sentencing, she added.
“They must each be punished with life in prison.”
She additionally asked for an additional 15 year prison sentence with aggravating circumstances for each charge of robbery.
» » » » [Beeld: Lewenslank gevra vir 'bose' moord op vrou; Jul 30 2008 10:57:25:130PM - (SA)]
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VAN DER WALT: Hannetjie, 78, Haldon Rd. Universitas, Bloemfontein; January 08, 2009
Strangled by painter hired by her husband Peet van der Walt, 84, who caught the casual painter at his wife's body in the dining room.
News 24
Bloemfontein - A Bloemfontein painter who allegedly strangled the elderly woman who hired him to paint her home has been arrested, Free State police said on Thursday.
Superintendent Annelie Wrensch said Park Road police station detectives arrested the 33-year-old in his house in JB Mafora Square on Wednesday night.
"At this stage the police suspect that the motive for the murder was the fact that the suspect was looking for the keys of the safe," she said.
Hannetjie van der Walt, 78, was strangled on January 8 in her and her husband Peet's Haldon Road, Universitas home.
Peet van der Walt, 84, caught the casual painter at his wife's body in the dining room when he returned from buying painting supplies.
He struggled with the man, who overpowered him and ran away.
Only a few pieces of clothing had been stolen from the house.
The man was expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates' Court on Monday on charges of murder and attempted murder.
Station commissioner Director Koos Bonthuys commended the three detectives who made the arrest. Bonthuys urged residents in the area not to employ people from the street without checking their references and criminal records.
» » » » [News 24: 2009-01-29 21:18: Painter held for woman's murder]
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Unnamed woman, robbed & tortured with iron; Luxury Bryanston complex, October 2009
Tortured with a hot iron by gang of robbers, connected to gangland boss Leonard "Golden" Dube, in conspiracy with domestic workers, Patricia Moyo, 29, and Tracey Khalima, 27.
The Star
October 28, 2009
For police officers accustomed to hauling armed robbers out of Alexandra, it was an unusual mission: track down and arrest two domestic workers hiding out in Hillbrow.
But the capture of their suspects broke wide open a case in which a Sandton woman
was tortured with a hot iron during a house robbery last week.
The attack was the third in as many years that has taken place at the luxury
Bryanston complex where convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti's family were held up
in 2007.
It is understood the gang arrived at the complex on Thursday morning in a car with Telkom signs on it. They produced a phone account bearing the family's name and told the security guard they were there to fix the line. The guard called the unit, spoke to one of the two domestic workers and was assured that the technicians were expected.
The four men then entered the house and took its owner hostage.
The gang ransacked the house, stealing jewellery, computers and other small valuables. The robbers also took a computer box capturing the CCTV footage in the house. After emptying a safe, they demanded the keys for a locked vault in which the woman's husband kept his hunting weapons. But the husband was away and he had the keys with him.
"I told them I didn't have them," the woman said. "They took an iron and started burning my back. They could have tortured me all day, but I didn't have the keys. They then put a pair of socks in my mouth, tied a scarf around my head and tied my hands and feet with a cable."
After the robbers fled, the woman managed to free herself and call for help.
"The police arrived within minutes. The Sandton police and ADT were wonderful and compassionate. They helped me get medical help. I believe they deserve a lot of accolades."
Two domestic workers, Patricia Moyo, 29, and Tracey Khalima, 27, had vanished with the gang, and the fear at first was that they had been kidnapped. But it did not take long for the the Trio Task Team from the Alexandra cluster to consider them suspects and track them down to a flat in Hillbrow. The women, one of whom had been with the family for two years, were caught with the family's jewellery and cash.
This breakthrough led officers to pounce on Leonard "Golden" Dube, who was caught with an R-4 military rifle and about R40 000 in cash. Dube was arrested in 2001 in connection with a massive heist at OR Tambo International Airport, but was released. A security guard was shot during the robbery and foreign currency, diamonds and jewellery worth more than R10 million were taken.
After arresting Dube, police raided a pawnshop in central Joburg and arrested the owner, Brett Hutchings, who allegedly had some of the stolen jewellery in his pocket. The four suspects appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate's Court on Monday and were due to appear again today.
Agliotti's family were attacked in 2007 and tortured for three hours by robbers. His teenage daughter was molested and his former wife was beaten by the gang. At the time he was under house arrest and under surveillance by the Scorpions. Agliotti has moved out of the Sandton complex and is currently testifying in Jackie Selebi's corruption trial.
About three months ago, another robbery was attempted at the same complex. A gang failed to steal a Porsche, and a security guard was arrested for allegedly being in cahoots with the robbers.
The hunt is on for the remaining three robbers responsible for last week's attack.
The woman has had to have plastic surgery for her wounds.
» » » » [The Star: 2009-10-28 04:25:00: Hot iron torture: domestics arrested (Page 3 on October 28 2009)]
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Employee Attacks [Pt1] : Murdered, Tortured, Robbed or Raped by their Employees
- TERREBLANCHE: Eugene, 69, leader of AWB on his farm Witrandjiesfontein, April 2010: Tortured, beaten and finally murdered by two employees, Zimbabwean Chris Mahlangu, 28, and a 15 year old over an alleged wage dispute.
- GREYVENSTEIN: Johan, 54 & Annelise, 53, Musina, in their car, 2 Nov 2010: Executed in an ambush, allegedly by two fired employees, with former prison records.
- VAN DER LITH: Pieter Blomerus (Blom), 65 and wife Henna; Nov 2010: Murdered and tortured to death, allegedly after a dispute with an employee, 70 km outside Louis Trichardt, on their Farm Swartklip.
- CROESER: Erica, 32 and husband Morne, 34, in their home at Msinsi Game Reserve at Albert Falls Dam; August 2010: Erica's throat was slit and her husband was stabbed in the stomach, allegedly in response to a labour dispute.
- [Unnamed woman] gang-raped and stabbed at her home, Boksburg; Feb 2010: Gang-raped, stabbed by a group of men hired as labourers by her husband to build a lapa.
- VAN ZYL: Koos (63) and his wife, Retha (66), in their farmhouse; Jan 2010: Murdered with a meathook and shotgun on their farm Poortjie between Senekal en Steynrus, by a fired employee.
- VAN DER HOVEN: Anna, 64 a UNISA Criminology professor in her garden, July 2009: Beaten, throttled and punched while taking a cup of tea to a worker building garden feature for her Lyttelton home.
- ROWE: Alan, 58, Rietvlei/Mooiriver KZN farmer; May 2009: Murder by former fired employee, who organized a gang of eight to rob his former employer.
- VAN DEN BOSCH-GRIEP, Johannes, 63 and his Jacobi, 60; Dutch immigrant farmers; May 2009: Beaten and stabbed to death by former employee Akhona, Inocent Gini, 25, who robbed 2 cellphones.
- HAYWARD: Clint, 35 and Michelle, 37 in their bedroom at the Mountain View Hotel, Louis Trichardt, on 20 October 2004: Shot in cold blood, by three Zimbabweans, one a former employee, Themba Thomas Chirume (20), Liberty Marumo (18), Jason Muleya Chadhebha (25).
- SCHMIDT: Rudi, 51 on farm Tuscanon, near Pontdrif, Messina; March 2002: Farmer stabbed to death and died from blood loss, during robbery by alleged former farm security guard, Dennis Moyo, 27.
» » [PART 01: Read Further]
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