Pretoria - The brothers of Anisha van Niekerk and her wife Joey van Niekerk testified how they became suspicious of the alleged mastermind behind the double killings, Koos Strydom, during their frantic search for the two missing women.
Wynand van Niekerk told Gauteng High Court, Pretoria Judge Bert Bam that Van Niekerk’s story simply did not add up.
At first he said that he was also looking for the women, as they had signed a document in which they had sold their plot to him and he wanted to take it to the lawyers to officiate. But in the same breath he said that he saw them that same morning in a strange car, at a garage in Mooinooi, Joey’s brother-in-law, Kobus Payne testified.
Anisha’s brother, Wynand van Niekerk, said he too became suspicious as Strydom kept on adding to his story.
The two men were the first two witnesses who were called to the stand on Tuesday, during the double murder and rape trial of Strydom, 54, his
young wife Mercia Strydom, 23 and three co-accused, Aaron Sithole, 26, Jack Sithole, 19 and Alex Modau, 37.
They are facing 13 charges in total, to which they have pleaded not guilty.
The December 2017 murders of the blonde couple rocked the small town of Mooinooi, near Rustenburg. This was especially so as the murders were extremely brutal.
It is claimed that the women were repeatedly raped, tortured and hung by their necks. Their bodies were later burnt. Only the remains of Anisha could be identified identified by the police, although the cause of her death could not be established. The remains of Joey could not be identified.
It is claimed that Strydom forced them to sign an agreement to sell their land to him, but that the plan was to kill them afterwards. It is said that he called in the help of his co-accused to assist him in the killings.
