Coffee shop owner relives teen’s distress

Seen here is the farm where the murder of the Steenkamp family occured. Picture: Johnnie van Niekerk

Seen here is the farm where the murder of the Steenkamp family occured. Picture: Johnnie van Niekerk

Published Mar 19, 2013

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Kimberley - The 16-year-old boy, who stands accused of killing three people, was visibly distraught on the night that three Steenkamp family members were murdered on their farm Naauwhoek near Griquatown

He screamed to the police to rush out to the scene following the shooting on April 6 2012, saying that the entire family had been shot and killed.

“Marthella died in my arms, it’s her blood,” he said, referring to the blood that was found on his arms and legs. “They are dead, they must come back, they aren’t allowed to be dead,” he cried.

According to the manager of Proviand restaurant Henriette Truter, who was drinking coffee on the veranda opposite the police station in Griquatown on the night of the murder, she saw the accused running up the stairs into the police station.

“You must come, everyone has been shot dead,” she heard him telling police officers before handing over firearms that he brought with in a white double cab bakkie.

Truter was under the impression that the boy could have accidentally shot someone during a hunting accident.

“I knew something was seriously wrong. I walked over to the police station because I wanted to give him some sugar water for shock. He was extremely traumatised. His voice was about two octaves higher than usual and there were tears in his eyes.”

She found the boy washing the blood off his legs in a wash basin at the back of the police station.

“As I handed him the glass he told me that the blood on his arms and legs was Marthella’s and that she had died in his arms.

“He was bare-chested and barefoot and was only wearing black PT shorts. After drinking about half a glass I asked him if he wanted to come to the restaurant because it was more peaceful there.

“He said that he wanted to go to the farm. I took the keys of the bakkie becauses he was very stressed and traumatised and I felt that it was the police’s job to go and investigate.

“I told him to relax becasue the police knew what they were doing and that perhaps there was someone who was still alive who could tell them what had happened. He said that it was not possible . . . everyone was dead.”

She added that she took him to the bar section, where it was more quiet where he sat on a couch near the window with his legs pulled up and his face resting on his knees.

“I did not know how to console him as he was worried about what would happen to him and where he would go. I did not have any answers.”

He had explained to her that he was in the shed when he heard shots inside the house.

“He asked why they had shot his father, as he had always provided them with everything that they needed. He ran into the house but did not see anyone.”

The boy called his grandmother, who also wanted to speak to Truter.

“I wanted someone familiar to be there to support him as he said that his family stayed out of town. While I was on the phone, the boy washed his arms and legs, although there was not that much blood. There was some blood behind his ear which I wiped off with a cloth.”

Truter later returned to the police station with the boy.

“He was sitting on the grass with his knees pulled up and I asked him if he wanted to accompany me. He was busy on his phone and asked me if I thought that he should let all his friends know what happened.”

Legal representative for the accused, Advocate Sharon Erasmus, said the boy could not recall having any blood wiped from behind his ear.

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