The father of one of the women charged with the murder of Gqeberha businessman Danie de Jager said he learnt of his daughter’s shock arrest through the newspaper.
Anton Cilliers said he was still in disbelief over the allegations that his daughter, Anke-Marie, conspired with her boyfriend and their landlady to stage a house robbery and kill 65-year-old De Jager at his Newton Park home.
The family are from East London, though Cilliers has been working in Mthatha.
Anke-Marie, 36, Leeroy Scholtz, 36, and De Jager’s partner, Estelle le Grange, 57, face charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and robbery.
At first, the matter was treated as a house robbery gone wrong, with Le Grange claiming she had been tied up and gagged by intruders at the couple’s Mangold Street home in the early hours of Thursday last week.
According to the state, De Jager, a successful businessman and grandfather, was suffocated and beaten with a hammer or similar object.
Anke-Marie and Scholtz rented a flat behind the main house.
A thorough police investigation resulted in the swift arrests of the trio, who made their second appearance in the Gqeberha magistrate’s court on Thursday morning.
The case was provisionally postponed to November 13 for a formal bail application.
The state has indicated that it intends opposing bail, and the accused remain in custody for now.
“I haven’t seen Anke in more than two years,” an emotional Cilliers told The Herald, adding that the family had been unable to travel to Gqeberha to see her since her arrest.
“She moved from East London to Gqeberha and had started working, but in July she lost her job.
“Our contact has mainly been through WhatsApp calls, and she always talked about ‘auntie Estelle’ and how good she was to her.
“I only know about the charges through newspaper articles and what the detective and others have told me.
“I didn’t know she and Leeroy were dating; I always thought they were just friends, though he seemed to care for her a lot.
“Leeroy seemed like a good partner and Estelle and Anke were very close.”
During the court proceedings on Thursday, Scholtz and Anke-Marie stood close to each other in the dock and whispered to one another.
A court orderly intervened and instructed them to separate and stop talking.
Le Grange, meanwhile, stood still and stared ahead at the magistrate.
It is the state’s case that the three unlawfully and intentionally conspired with each other to commit an offence.
According to the charge sheet, they unlawfully and intentionally killed De Jager by “suffocating him and hitting him with a hammer or a similar instrument”.
The state alleges that the accused acted in the furtherance of a common purpose.
It is further alleged that, in a possible attempt to make the attack appear to be a house robbery gone wrong, they stole De Jager’s bank cards, jewellery and R4,450 in cash.
Scholtz and Cilliers are both represented by Legal Aid SA.
The Herald
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