Pretoria - On the day he was meant to retire, Johan de Beer, 64, will instead be laid to rest following his bizarre murder this week.
He was found dead in a toilet cubicle at the University of Pretoria (UP), with a plastic bag over his head in the early hours of Wednesday.
He worked as an architectural science lecturer at the time of his death.
He was due to retire in a matter of days, when his life was tragically cut short.
His wife Coosie spoke to the Pretoria News in her Weavind Park home on Thursday and said she had last heard from her husband of 38 years on Tuesday morning. She grew concerned when he did not arrive home at 4pm as he usually did.
“I thought he was in a meeting when he did not respond to my text message but when I called and his phone went to voicemail that’s when I started to worry,” she said.
When she still couldn't locate Johan after calling a colleague of his, she asked her son-in-law to accompany her to the university to help find him.
“We found his car parked in the parking lot and when security went to check his office they found his door open, his laptop open and his phone on the charger.
“The security manager let us go through the video surveillance around campus and we saw him going to withdraw money at the student centre ATM,” she said.
The video surveillance does not show where Johan went after making the withdrawal.
“When they found him the next morning it was discovered that the R600 he had withdrawn was missing but his wallet, credit cards and wedding ring were still on him,” said Coosie.
She said it was heartbreaking that he was taken from them just after they had celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary on December 17.
“The people who did this have broken my heart and it will never be mended again.
“I can’t explain how painful it has been trying to figure out how to answer my grandson who asks if his grandfather died because he was old and why they couldn’t put him in another body,” said Coosie.
“My consolation now is playing on full blast the song entitled, Warmer Than The Ground, as he had translated it from a poem many years ago. It’s from a dead person’s view that people should not sit on their cold grave but instead keep them warm in their hearts and that is where I am now,” she said.
Their daughter Jaconette Brink became emotional as she said that her father was everything to them.
Brink said he was her rock and would always have an answer for her if she needed his advice about anything.
“He would move mountains (for us) and nothing could stop him when he wanted to help us,” she said.
She said she used to sing with him as he played the piano, guitar, organ and accordion.
Brooklyn police spokeswoman Captain Colette Weilbach said a case of murder had been opened.
She said no new information had come to light.
Investigations into the case are continuing.
Pretoria News
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