When police stormed the farmhouse where the French fugitive couple were hiding out in Sutherland, Philippe Ménière turned the gun on his partner, Agnès Jardel, and shot her.
She died instantly.
He then turned the gun on himself and fired, but the shot did not kill him. With the police already in the house, the wounded Ménière made a last-ditch attempt to fight off police and opened fire on them. He died in the shootout.
These details emerged on Monday from Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela.
“When police stormed the house he shot and killed her, and then shot and wounded himself in an attempted suicide. He then turned the gun on police, who were already inside the house,” Polela said.
Ménière died as a result of the “combined wounds” from his own shots and police bullets, Polela said.
Cape Times photographer Michael Walker, who was present when the shootout happened, said he had heard a woman scream during the shooting.
Earlier Major-General Liziwe Ntshinga, deputy provincial commissioner of the Hawks, had told the Cape Times that the couple had committed suicide, but did not know the details.
Jolene du Plessis, daughter-in-law of Gerhardus, who owns the farm where he allowed the couple to live, said the family was not surprised at the attempted suicide.
“We all thought they would never give themselves up. Not after six days of running and hiding, seeing the chopper flying everywhere. It’s sad that they found them so late,” Du Plessis said.
The couple were buried in Kimberley on Friday. There were only three people at the funeral, two women and a man, who spoke Afrikaans.
Police said they were not from their staff, and Du Plessis said they were not from her family either.
“We didn’t even know when it would be, or where it was,” she said.
The funeral was paid for by French friends of Ménière, who had no living relatives, and the three siblings of Jardel, who live in France. It was organised by the French consulate in Cape Town.
“I knew she had a sister. That was the only relative she ever spoke about. But I’m not surprised they lost touch eventually, because they weren’t the same any more. It’s just sad, really.”
Her father-in-law, husband Cobus and brother-in-law Jaen were “doing okay”.
“But it’s not something you recover from overnight. They’re trying to understand it, but the people they need to ask are dead. At the same time, they’re still trying to go on and carry on with their business.
“Someone ran over Jaen’s dog, and a worker of theirs died of a heart attack last week, so it’s been a hard year.”
The gravestone is a simple one, with the couple’s names, dates and “Rest in Peace, Psalm 23” inscribed on it. - Cape Times