On January 20, 2011 Babanango farmer and world-renowned gunsmith Kobus de Vries, 54, died in a hail of police bullets after a stand-off with about 40 armed policemen at his farmhouse.
The official version was contradicted by witness accounts, and now his widow, Rentia, is taking the minister of police to court to hold him accountable for the death.
In court papers filed this week by her legal representative, attorney Carel Taute, Rentia, a vet who has since moved to Somerset West, is asking for R4 008 000 to compensate her for the loss of spousal support. She is also requesting interest on the amount.
Taute said that Rentia de Vries had been looked after by her husband to the tune of R200 000 a year. She did not work at the time, but had been forced to accept a poorly paid job since her husband’s death.
When news of the killing broke, police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker told the Tribune the information at his disposal indicated that De Vries was shot when he fired at local police and tactical response team members after a stand-off at his farmhouse.
Naicker said the confrontation was precipitated by De Vries crashing into an Eskom van in Babanango, on his way home from dropping Rentia off at King Shaka airport, to catch a flight to Cape Town.
Naicker said De Vries left the accident scene and then collided with a second vehicle outside the town.
From the outset De Vries’s family strongly contested the police version of events.
“The allegation of the car crashes does not make sense. There was only a small scrape on Kobus’s car,” said Thinus de Vries, one of the deceased’s brothers.
At Kobus’s funeral, Thinus said: “Three shots were fired by police snipers, from two different calibre guns. The second bullet hit him in the arm. As he stumbled back into his house, with his uncocked shotgun hanging at his side, a third bullet hit and killed him.”
In May the family announced plans to sue the police for the wrongful death.
At that point KZN police spokeswoman Brigadier Phindile Radebe reiterated the version that police fired on De Vries when he opened fire on them.
ICD spokesman Moses Dlamini said: “One of the (state) pathologists was quite surprised when I told him the family had instituted a civil claim because they allege he was shot from behind. He said there were no bullet holes in De Vries’s back.”
Recently Dlamini told the Tribune: “As far as the ICD is aware, both pathologists (the state’s and the family’s) were in agreement in regard to their findings.”
Asked whether the state pathologist’s report tallied with private pathologist Reggie Perumal’s in respect of the bullet wound in De Vries’s back, he said:
“Once the investigation is concluded, the docket will be sent to the DPP (director of public prosecutions) for a decision, after which the outcome will be made public.”
Taute told the Tribune this week, after serving papers, that Perumal’s findings left “absolutely no doubt” about what happened that night.
“In addition to Dr Perumal’s report, we have the statement of a witness who was on the scene during the entire event, and has given an account of what happened.
“There is no doubt whatsoever that De Vries’s death was unlawful.”
Nantes Kelder, the head of community safety for the civil rights initiative AfriForum, said
: “I have in my possession photographs that clearly show a bullet entry wound in the deceased’s back. The bullet exited his face just above his jaw bone. The police version of events is strongly in dispute.
“Eyewitness testimony from a farm labourer who was with De Vries states that he posed no threat to police at any stage of the alleged stand-off.”
Kelder said that De Vries had been frustrated by police inaction after a series of stock thefts on his farm. “There was a history of tension between the parties.”
The legal matter now resides with the office of the state attorney, which has 20 court days to respond to the papers. After that time they will note their defence, and at a time yet to be determined, pleadings will start. - Sunday Tribune