The fugitive French couple being sought by police attended a survival combat and tactics academy in South Africa 23 years ago.
Smithfield, Free State, resident Pete Swanepoel, a weapons instructor at the academy based in Germiston, Johannesburg, recognised Philippe Meniere, who is wanted for the murder of student policeman Jacob Boleme, and his wife, Agnes Jardel, from recent newspaper articles.
He said the couple had been trained in hand-to-hand combat, survival skills, abseiling as well as pistol, shotgun, and assault rifle practice.
Swanepoel said yesterday that he thought the couple were “strange”.
“One weekend they just pitched up at the course,” he said. “He was a skinny guy with glasses with his skinny red-headed girl.
“The reason I remember them so clearly is that she (Jardel) was the only female member in the group.
“They were a really strange couple whom no one could figure out. Philippe was a big talker, he told us that he belonged to the French Foreign Legion but when push came to shove he was totally useless.
“He couldn’t shoot, or disarm. He had a face you wanted to smack. Definitely not a couple you’d invite over for a beer,” Swanepoel said. He said he was a qualified weapons instructor and a member of the National Firearm Training Association of SA.
“They believed in the Nostradamus teachings and I believe Philippe influenced most course members to join. I remember one weekend they loaded up three 4x4 bakkies, all of them looking like Rambo with bows and arrows on their backs. About 16 people joined them. Only four did not.
“They believed that the world was coming to an end and decided to flee. The sane academy members had a good laugh when they returned red- faced two weeks later.”
Swanepoel said he wasn’t sure about the couple’s nationality.
“He had a Serbian or Polish accent. He didn’t sound French and never even spoke about ‘his country’. I didn’t know where he lived, all he said was that he worked at the Johannesburg General Hospital . He claimed to be a doctor. “
Police have established that Meniere had also undergone some form of paramilitary training in France but was never part of the French armed forces, and was not “on the data base” of their military services.
Police are also working with the French authorities to establish whether Meniere had any form of police record in France.
The French couple lived in Sutherland for about 12 years, the first two years living in the town itself, and then later on the farm of Gerhardus du Plessis about 22km outside the town.
They moved to Sutherland to “drop out” of society.
When the couple fled from the murder scene on the Du Plessis’s Sutherland farm on Friday, they were wearing clothing that looked like typical “army browns”.
At their stolen “getaway vehicle”, abandoned in the veld, police found two rucksacks the couple had apparently abandoned, which had several “army-style” water bottles in them, with canvas outers. There were also medical supplies in the rucksacks.
Before they fled, they are alleged to have shot out the dashboard of the white Hilux bakkie. Yesterday the bakkie, belonging to Jaen du Plessis, Gerhardus’s son, had been released by the police and was parked outside the local hotel.
It was covered with a coating of grey from fingerprint powder, and the dashboard was still smashed.
The bakkie had remained in the veld for several days, and police used it as the centre point for the “360 degree” search fanning out from the vehicle.
The couple’s tracks were clear at the bakkie, but soon disappeared in the hard-packed Karoo earth.
Police have intensified the search for the fugitive couple, still not found on this the fifth day of the search, and there are now over 70 police officers from many divisions in Sutherland.
The helicopter, which had been flying in the vicinity of the Du Plessis farm yesterday, moved north yesterday and could be seen flying over the hilly terrain in the vicinity of the largest peak in the area, Salpeterkop.
This koppie, apparently of volcanic origin, is said to have many caves and tunnels in it. Local townsfolk believe the couple may have holed up there, having previously stocked it with provisions as a hideout.
Joelen du Plessis, daughter-in-law of Gerhardus, said yesterday she did not believe the couple had ever envisaged being sought for murder, but said they spoke often about “end of the world” scenarios, and said one needed to make plans for such an event.
“They believed the planet was going to be covered with snow and you would need somewhere to hide out. They asked my father-in-law if he would build a bunker for them, but he just thought it was a joke. But I think they were serious.” - Cape Times