THE Springs “House of Horrors” is having at least some of its evil exorcised as it undergoes a major revamp to turn it into a fancy conference venue.
Two years ago the double-storey dwelling at 36 Plantation Road became a ghoulish local tourist attraction as grim details emerged of how a father tortured his children and held them captive on the property, while his wife did nothing.
People would drive past slowly to see whether they could catch a glimpse of anything behind a large wall and enormous trees, fascinated by the news that police had raided the house and found dozens of items of pornographic material in the filthy, unkempt and rat-infested home.
Today the house is hardly recognisable.
The walls around the property have been plastered. A new solid steel gate has been put up and many of the trees cut down. The garden has also been spruced up.
The home previously belonged to holding company Nieat Investments, the owners of which rented it to the father of five. The man also played the role of a landlord to several tenants renting cottages on the property.
A new owner has since taken over.
“Jissie, this guy has really changed this house. You don’t know how relieved we are that that man no longer lives here. This place is turning out beautifully. It must be costing the new owner a fortune to fix this place up,” said an elderly neighbour who identified herself as Tannie Reine.
The 76-year-old lives next door at the Kimali townhouse complex and passes the house every day during her afternoon walks.
She spoke of several of her clashes with the father and used car dealership owner.
She recalled how she looked through the gate of the property shortly after the family moved in and saw the man standing outside.
“He yelled and asked what I was looking at and told me to go away,” she said.
Nothing, however, prepared her for what happened the next day she walked past with her 81-year-old walking buddy.
“He opened the gate and set his two large dogs on us. We ran. He shouted in Afrikaans that this was his sh*t. That he was now the owner and that we should deal with it.”
The pensioner said the man and his wife also played loud music every evening with the Afrikaans song De la Rey on repeat.
“The music was unbearable. I remember telling a metro police officer who lives in our complex to intervene. He walked over to the house and came back saying the couple explained to him that they were practising for a kykNET singing competition. Can you believe it?” she said.
She described the man as a terrible person, but said she had no clue he was abusing his children. She often saw the small children playing outside but never suspected anything.
“I used to see them through my window. Maybe the hell took place at night while the awful music was on and they used it to cover up everything. If I had picked up that something was wrong I would have called the police straight away. I always had the urge to put him in his place after what he did to us,” she said.
Inside the property this week, workers cleared rubble and laid tiles in the lounge. They said they had been commissioned to renovate by the new owner, but would not reveal much about the project or the identity of the owner.
Meanwhile, the aunt of the father of five said her nephew was much better than he was a couple of months ago.
“He is taking his medication from when he was at Weskoppies hospital for his mental evaluation and he has now given his life to the Lord,” the woman said.
She had not seen or spoken to the children who once lived with her, saying they were in the care of social workers and another aunt.
She would be going to court to support her nephew as he was still family, regardless of all he is accused of.