How monstrous...
Northam – On Sunday 24 July the police confirmed the rumours about the gruesome find which has been circulating in Northam and Thabazimbi over the past few weeks.
Two supposed friends of Hennie Venter, who went missing in 2021, were arrested for his gruesome murder. Gareth Potgieter and Wynand Steyn, both aged 34, appeared briefly before the Northam Magistrates’ Court on Monday 25 July.
Venter, a 35-year-old man from Northam went missing on 11 September 2021. He took his dog and left home on foot without telling anyone where he was going.
He was reported missing at the Northam police station and the search began with family and community members handing out flyers and putting up posters. When Platinum Bushvelder first reported on Venter on 1 October, a family member said:
“Nobody knows how heart breaking it is, we don’t know whether he is dead or alive. Has he eaten? Is someone mistreating him? There are so many questions and no answers, yet we remain hopeful.”
Almost 10 months after he went missing, a task team comprising Crime Intelligence, Detectives, Crime Prevention, K9 Search and Rescue Unit and Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC), with the help of forensic specialists from West Rand K9 Biology, and SAPS National Anthropology made a major breakthrough. In the beginning of July, they discovered a knife, panga and an axe on a plot outside Northam. It was believed to be the weapons that were used to commit the murder.
The investigation was intensified on the plot and surrounding areas which led to the discovery of pieces of human remains believed to be that Venter.
According to police spokesperson brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, the dismembered remains were disposed of at different locations surrounding the plot. The remains were taken to the forensic department for DNA analysis to identify Venter. The first suspect believed to be linked to the murder was arrested in Bloemfontein on 17 July and the second suspect was arrested in Northam on 23 July.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects were friends of Venter. He apparently visited them when they brutally murdered him. The suspects then dismembered his body and disposed of the body parts at different locations. The motive for the murder and how the victim was killed is under investigation.
“During the hearing, Potgieter looked over at Venter’s family and had a smirk on his face,” an eyewitness at the trial told Platinum Bushvelder.
Both abandoned their bail applications, and their case was postponed to 29 August.
“I don’t know what to say, I just know that they need to be punished for what they did but I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive them,” Venter’s father Hennie Venter senior said in an interview with Platinum Bushvelder.
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