Kimberley - Axe murder accused John Langeveldt pleaded guilty to two charges of murder in the Northern Cape High Court on Tuesday, following the brutal attack on four family members, two of whom were hacked to death, earlier this year.
The 53-year-old Langeveldt showed no emotion as the court heard how he fatally attacked his sister and his nephew with a metre-long axe and knife at their home in Douglas in March this year before going into hiding, disappearing for more than a month before being arrested in April.
Langeveldt pleaded not guilty to two charges of attempted murder relating to his mother, who was seriously injured, and 17-year-old niece, who managed to escape.
A State forensic pathologist, Lemaine Fouche, testified on Tuesday that Langeveldt’s nephew, Ferdinand, 19, was all but decapitated in the attack, while the teenager’s mother (and sister of the accused), Hendrika, had a total of 22 stab wounds, including a fatal disembowelment.
According to a statement read by Langeveldt’s defence, Johan Cloete, the accused had returned home inebriated from a local tavern on the night of March 4 when an ongoing family feud resumed.
Langeveldt shared a room with his nephew and said that the combination of alcohol and emotion was compounded by the 19-year-old swearing at him and this had led to the attack.
Langeveldt said in the statement that he snapped and grabbed the axe, striking Ferdinand once before the weapon slipped from his hand. He then picked up a knife and continued to stab his nephew.
According to the statement, the confrontation alerted the rest of the household and Hendrika and the sibling’s 79-year-old mother, Miena, entered the room.
Langeveldt stated that he had then turned his anger on his sister, who he chased before stabbing her repeatedly.
“When I saw what I had done I was shocked and tried to kill myself by stabbing myself in the left side of the chest,” he said.
“I then went and hid at the river. I didn’t eat for days because of my wounds and eventually I had to go and ask for help.
“I was drunk at the time of the incident and I lost control. I’m still struggling to come to terms with what happened.”
Fouche, who conducted the post-mortem examinations, was the first witness to take the stand and described the double murder as a “vicious attack”.
The nephew’s head was left only attached by his spinal cord while he also sustained two other incisions. The attack on Hendrika was even more brutal and she had stab wounds all over her arms, legs, torso and head.
According to Fouche, the fatal wound was a 10-centimetre incision on the left side of her abdomen which left a major artery severed and the bowel protruding.
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