‘My son attacked me with an axe’

Published Oct 23, 2014

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Kimberley - An emotional family sat in the gallery of the Northern Cape High Court on Wednesday and heard how Douglas axe murderer, John Langeveldt, went on a rampage, killing two family members and injuring two others.

On Wednesday, Langeveldt’s mother, 79-year-old Miena, took the stand and described the night of terror when she had no doubt that her intoxicated, axe-wielding son would have no qualms about taking her life.

The accused pleaded guilty to two charges of murder but pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his mother and niece.

The elderly Miena recalled the night of the incident vividly and said that her pleas for peace in the household had fallen on deaf ears.

She admitted that her recollection of events was affected by shock and blood loss towards the end of the ordeal, but she said that she could remember getting between her two children and pleading with John to stop the violent attack, which by that stage had left his nephew, Ferdinand, fatally wounded with a blow from an axe to the neck, while the 19-year-old’s mother, Hendrika, was also seriously injured.

Where Miena’s testimony largely differed from that of her son, was the prominence placed on the use of the axe as John’s weapon of choice.

John said on Tuesday that he struck Ferdinand once with the axe, which slipped from his hand, and he then picked up a knife that was in the room. His mother questioned this sequence of events saying that she heard her daughter begging for her life.

“I heard Hendrika pleading and I got up to see what was happening. She was chopped with the axe in the living room, not the bedroom.”

“Netta (John’s niece) had already left when I was hit. I can’t remember much after that but I do remember standing between Oubaas (John) and Hendrika asking for peace, when he chopped me with the axe.”

Miena said that she had no doubt what her son’s intentions were on the night when he lifted the axe above her. “Oubaas didn’t hit me by accident. He chopped me because he doesn’t respect me and he wanted to kill me,” she said.

The 79-year-old continued to say that the axe had also been the initial weapon used on her daughter, Hendrika, and that John hadn’t stabbed the victim 22 times with a knife alone. “I don’t drink and I can remember.”

According to the medical report, Miena sustained numerous injuries including a 10cm gash on her right hand which exposed cut tendons and fractured bone.

“I can’t remember everything because I lost a lot of blood and had to go to hospital. Oubaas says that he stabbed me by accident but I was sober. He also didn’t use a knife but the axe.”

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