Censorbugbear reports...

 

“Cruellest crime scene I’d seen in 31 years of police work…’ testifies SAPS captain Koos Venter at Welkom High Court murder trial of the 2 black suspects accused of torturing to death Alice and Helen Lotter in March 6 2009…

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SA farm murders are serious human-rights violations – UNPO

2010-06-01 Tom de Wet Volksblad - WELKOM. – Unarmed fifty-seven-year old murdered Boer woman Helen Lotter was extensively tortured: sexualy-mutilated by her black attackers with broken glass shards and other instruments; her mother Alice, 76, was tortured with scissors and knives in their Allenridge, Odendaalsrust homestead on 6 March 2009.

The trial started on the Monday following a public condemnation by the Unrepresented Nations’ and Peoples’ Organisation (UNPO)’s annual congress in Rome, Italy -  whose 54-members representing 200-million people accepted a motion condemning these often very cruel murders of thousands of South African farmers as ‘serious human rights violations:  http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2010/05/farm-murders-serious-human-rights.html

Extreme cruelty of Lotter women’s murders shocked the Boer community:

Just before she died,  the mortally-wounded Alice had told investigating SAPS captain Koos Venter that they were tortured by their gardener, Joseph (Hlongwane, 22) – and had pointed  the policeman to the worker’s personal details which she kept inside her passport.  Hlongwane was also directly linked to the murders of the two frail women by fingerprints lifted from the crime-scene by forensic experts, the court heard.

The mother’s last words to the Afrikaner policeman were “Thank the Lord that you care for us and that we can hide with you…’’ Alice Lotter died shortly after her arrival at hospital, her daughter Helen died several days later. 

Both women were ‘extensively mutilated’. This testimony was delivered by Capt Venter at the High Court trial before judge S P B Hancke in Welkom, Free State of the Lotter woman’s gardener Joseph Hlongwane, 22 and his co-accused Joseph Khumalo, 21. They deny all the charges – three murders, one house-breakin with the intend to commit robbery; and aggravated robbery. They deny all the charges. The name of the third-murder victim was not mentioned in this news report in Volksblad.

The Afrikaner policeman, who has 31 years of experience, testified that the scene of women’s torture-murders was among ‘the cruellest crimes he had ever witnessed in his career.’

The two Free State Boer women’ murders on March 6 2009 – Helen Lotter’s breasts were also partially cut off and broken bottle-shards were inserted in her vagina and anus as part of the extensive torture she and her mother Alice had endured  --  caused  deep anger amongst the Afrikaner/Boer community. 

Information by police members to the news media shortly after the murder also was that the words ‘Kill the Boer’ had been daubed in the women’s blood on the farmhouse walls.

GRAPHIC RE-ENACTMENT OF THE TORTURE-MURDERS AT ODENDAALSRUST LAW COURT

Shortly before he was also murdered in April 2010 - hacked to death so brutally that he was unrecognisable --  ailing Ventersdorp farmer Eugene Terre’Blanche, leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB),  also referred to the extreme cruelty of the Lotter women’s torture-murders in media interviews.

Terre’Blanche led peaceful protest actions at the Odendaalsrust law courts when the suspects made their first remand appearances in April last year.

The Boer protestors demanded that the murderers be hanged – and had also carried out graphic re-enactments depicting the exact way in which the Lotter women had been put to death –  scenes which shocked many onlookers and caused indignation in the news media.

Shortly before he was murdered a year later  - hacked to death so brutally that he was unrecognisable --  ailing Ventersdorp farmer Eugene Terre’Blanche, leader of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB),  also often referred to the extreme cruelty of the Lotter women’s torture-murders in media interviews. Terre’Blanche had led the peaceful protest actions at the Odendaalsrust law courts when the suspects had made their first remand appearances and applied for bail in April 2009. The Boer protestors carried out a graphic re-enactment of the way in which the Lotter women had been put to death and also demanded the return of the death sentence for such cruel race-hate crimes.. Their reenactment was so graphic that it had shocked many onlookers and caused outrage in the Afrikaans-language news media.

ANC-MAYOR MRS MATABA LEETO ALSO LED A COUNTER-PROTEST

The  local ANC-mayor also organised a counter-protest with local ANC-cadres at the same time: but the Boer and ANC protestors did not clash: they were kept seperated by a large police force which was being ordered around by the ANC-mayor, who told the Boers that their protest was ‘illegal’.

The two groups then stood side-by-side on the curb opposite the law court, loudly trying to outdo each other in singing their respective national anthems in their own languages… as can be seen on the picture below: the ANC contingent can be seen in the background, the Boers in front.  http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/04/odendaalsrust-law-court-scene-of-angry.html

Odendaalsrust magistrate’s court April 2009:   – the ANC counter-protest group was headed by local ANC-mayor Mrs Mataba Leeto in the background;  the Boer protestors in front objected against the suspects getting bail  http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/04/odendaalsrust-law-court-scene-of-angry.html

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“Captain where are you?’

Captain Koos Venter, head of the detective unit at Allanridge, testified yesterday at the Welkom High Court that he had received a call from Mrs Alice Lotter on the evening of March 6 2009. She ‘d asked him: “Captain where are you?” in Afrikaans – and then the line went dead. He was unable to call her back, so he jumped into his car and chased from his home in Odendaalsrus to the Allanridge farm. At the backdoor of the homestead he found a ‘very badly injured Miss Helen Lotter.’ Her face was coated in blood, some of her teeth had been smashed out, she wore a bloodied t-shirt and her naked underbody was covered in blood. A bloodied knife and scissors were found at the scene as well as bloodied beer-glas shards lying near the daughter’s legs.  He found the mother Ieaning against a dining-room chair, just about to fall over. He gently helped her lie down on the carpet of the living room. She asked him: “Who are you?” while he examined the ‘gaping wounds at her throat, arms and hands,’ he told the court.

He told the mortally-injured old woman that he was Captain Venter, and then she told the Afrikaner police man “Thank the Lord that you care for us and that we can hide with you…’

Venter briefly searched the house and came across the women’s two dogs, locked into a room. He then rushed back to the women and tried to make them more comfortable while waiting for the emergency service he’d alerted, to arrive. While doing this Mrs Alice Lotter told him that it was Joseph, the gardener, who had ‘hurt them’. She also told Captain Venter that Joseph’s personal details were kept inside her passport, which was on the dining table. She didn’t speak anything else after that and died shortly thereafter at the hospital.

Venter testified that he had 31 years of police service behind him – and that this was the bloodiest and cruellest crime scene he had ever seen.  Hlongwane was also linked to the murder by finger-prints found at the crime-scene by forensic experts, reported Volksblad. 

The public prosecutor is Advocate Sophie Giorgi, the defence counsellors are Advocate  Jan Nkhahle and Mr. Lawrence Chabalala (sp?). Judge Hancke is assisted on the Bench by two Assessdors, Mr P Haasbroek and Mrs B Smal. The trial continues at the Welkom High Court. http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bejaarde-se-gebed-laaste-woorde-voor-dood-20100601

Censorbugbear-reports has forensic pictures of the murder-scene on our records – but they are too gruesome to show in public.