Fourteen-year-old Marthella Steenkamp fought with everything she had as her older brother pinned her down, dug his fingernails into her skin to tear her clothes off, and raped her.
And to prevent her from telling their parents — something she so desperately wanted to do — the 15-year-old boy took their father’s .357 magnum revolver and a .22 rifle from the safe.
He then went into the TV room and shot his mother, Christel, 43, and father, Deon, 44.
With both parents lying in a pool of their own blood, with the TV blaring in the background, the teenager stood over them, firing a final shot into the back of each of their heads.
He then shot and killed the terrified and defenceless Marthella before driving himself to the police station and said there was a farm invasion.
These are the sickening crimes the teenager, known as the Griekwastad killer, was convicted of before being sentenced to an effective 20 years in prison.
And though the incident happened more than a decade ago, and he already served about 12 years behind bars, it was thrust back into the public domain last week when his parole was reversed.
The incident occurred at their farm, Naauwhoek, in the Northern Cape, on Good Friday in 2012.
The now 29-year-old was found guilty of the triple murders in March 2014.
The man, who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the murders, was also convicted of rape and defeating the ends of justice.
The Kimberley High Court sentenced the then 17-year-old five months later.
In December last year, a parole board approved his release on parole.
However, Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald asked the parole review board to review the decision.
It is that decision that has now been overturned.
Deon, Christelle and Marthella Steenkamp were killed in 2012
“The minister confirms that the original decision to place an offender on parole has been replaced by the Correctional Supervision and Parole Review Board in terms of section 75(8) of the Correctional Services Act,” his spokesperson Euné Wessels said on Thursday night.
“The minister’s decision to refer the matter to the [review board] followed numerous representations from the community.
“Prior to making the referral, the minister requested and considered all relevant documentation pertaining to the parole placement decision.”
Following its review, they decided to replace the original decision.
“The offender will therefore continue serving his sentence and must comply with prescribed corrective measures within a specified timeframe before his suitability for parole placement can be reconsidered,” Wessels said.
Deon and Christel Steenkamp
The case grabbed headlines, even international, after it happened.
Regarding the sequence of events that evening, Judge President Frans Kgomo said the sleepy town of Griekwastad was rocked to its knees when the fresh-faced 15-year-old boy burst into the police station shortly before 7pm on that Friday.
Kgomo said he reported that his parents and sister have been murdered on Naauwhoek Farm, about 10 km to the South, and that he was the sole survivor.
He said from the evidence of Warrant Officer Wildt who was in charge of the charge office, Constables GB Kutoane and JM Langa, it was clear the minor was very emotional.
“His face and both hands were bloodied and bore a fresh scratch mark on his neck,” Kgomo said.
“His first report was that his ‘mom, dad and sister were just killed on farm Naauwhoek’.”
Kgomo, in his judgment, said the police testified that Warrant Officer Rooi, now deceased, knew the minor and his parents.
“He took the minor to an inner office to calm him down,” Kgomo said.
“The minor washed his face and hands in a hand-basin in the police courtyard.
“He discarded the bloodied T-shirt next to the basin and he was therefore, for some time, unclad on his upper body.”
Kgomo said the minor, on his own volition, then left the charge office and was followed by Rooi.
“On their return Rooi carried a .22 rifle and a .357 revolver,” he said.
“These firearms were retrieved from the Isuzu van that the minor drove, and was parked in front of the police station.
“It is common cause that the aforesaid firearms were the property of the minor’s murdered parents and that they are the murder weapons in respect of all the deceased.”
He said Henriette Truter, the manager of a restaurant across from the police station, gave the minor a glucose drink while he was in the station courtyard.
According to Kgomo, his parents watched Vetkoek Paleis when the incident happened.
Vetkoek Paleis is a slapstick Afrikaans sitcom.
The medical and forensic findings also confirmed that a violent physical struggle took place between Marthella and the teenager prior to the shootings.
Court documents, seen by IOL, said scratch marks on her body, along with the DNA matching her brother found beneath her fingernails, proved she had fought back during the assault.
Furthermore, it was discovered during the trial that her torn clothing and underwear were scattered in the kitchen area.
This confirmed her clothes had been forcefully removed before she was raped.
To hide the assault from his parents, the boy went to the safe and took out two firearms.
He walked into the TV area and fired the first shot at his mother, Christel.
Regarding the reconstruction of the shooting sequence and the specific movements of the victims, Kgomo found: “The police found the front door bolted and chained.
“No access could have been gained by the intruder through this door.
“The backdoor [the kitchen door] was found open and the lights were on and the TV was playing.
“The minor and his defence suggested that the intruder must have slipped into the house through the front door unobserved because the family was relaxing on the lawns at the back of the house.
“They hoped to watch koedoes roaming in the valley. The family exited and re-entered the house through the backdoor.”
The man, who as a teenager, was convicted of killing his father, mother and sister
But Kgomo said there was no possibility that the intruder, apparently a lone-ranger, could have entered the house through the back door unnoticed.
“The dogs would certainly have barked,” Kgomo said.
“This was testified to by the deceased’s family and friends: Ms Smith; Mr Paul Botha; Mr Jannie Ludick; and Police officer Mohitlhi who had to interrupt the video recording of the crime scene as the dogs would not leave him alone.”
Kgomo said forensic evidence established that all three victims were initially incapacitated by shots to the body from the family’s .357 revolver, followed by fatal shots to the head to ensure their deaths.
The parents were specifically shot in the back of the head as a final action.
The 14-year-old sister was shot in the chest with the revolver but managed to escape onto the lawn before dragging herself back toward the house’s landline to call for help.
She was intercepted by the perpetrator and killed with a final shot to the back of her head.
The weapons used in all three murders were the property of the parents, kept in a safe within the home.
Regarding the sister’s final moments and the boy’s fabrication at the police station, Kgomo found: “If the minor reacted as described by his relatives, and also by the investigating officer and further when he testified in court then it would be fair to say of him the deaths of his family ‘left him cold’; indifferent.”
Kgomo added: “He saw his father sprawled and full of blood. He looks at him and walks past.
“Next he sees his mother prostrate and bloodied and adopts a similar attitude.
“His beloved younger sister of 14 years, who was heavily wounded, strains every sinew, evidently to summon help; even on the minor’s own account to a pastor, reaching out to him for help, was pushed away.
“He says he was repulsed by her blood.”
Kgomo said it didn’t make sense.
“How can a regular hunter be so blood-squeamish?” he asked in his judgment.
“He has his cellphone with him. He does not call an ambulance or the police or a relative.
“All he can think of is to change his T-shirt which was soaked in his sister’s blood and drive some 10 km away purportedly to raise the alarm.
“I reject the minor’s statement that his sister would have told him that she loved him. The circumstances militate strongly against such endearment.”
The teenager pleaded not guilty to triple murder, rape, and defeating the ends of justice.
He claimed he was completely innocent.
His lawyers, W.J. Coetzee, S.L. Erasmus, and later Riaan Bode, argued he was outside the house in an outbuilding when he heard gunshots.
According to his version, he ran inside, found his family already dead, panicked, and took the guns to the police station for safety.
His defence team said the blood covering his clothes got there because he cradled his dying sister and parents.
They argued that the police rushed to judgment and contaminated the crime scene during the investigation.
The state said his story was a “complete fabrication” and used ballistics and blood spatter evidence to disprove his alibi.
Blood spatter experts testified that the blood on the boy’s clothes did not come from holding his family.
It was “impact spatter”, meaning he had to be standing directly over them when the shots were fired.
The state also noted his calm demeanor after the murders, arguing it showed he was trying to cover his tracks.
Kgomo completely rejected the boy’s defense.
The murders later became the subject of a true crime book titled The Griekwastad Murders: The Crime That Shook SA by journalist Jacques Steenkamp.
The book was later adapted into the 2019 crime drama film Griekwastad.
The movie stars Arnold Vosloo as Colonel Dick de Waal, the lead investigator who worked to uncover the truth behind the triple murder, while Alex van Dyk portrays the perpetrator.
THE rule-based global order is undergoing profound transformation. As Russia and China grow stronger, challenging Western powers and their institutions, and the US engages in deep introspection about its global role, the world is facing mounting geopolitical conflicts and deepening fault lines.For many in the Global South, including South Africa, this turbulence, marked by calls for reformed multilateralism through platforms like BRICS, the African Union, and the G20, presents both […]
