R1 500 blood money outrage

Published Oct 13, 2015

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North West - R1 500. That’s how much the man accused of shooting and killing a man he suspected of stealing from his farm near the North West town of Koster wanted to pay the deceased’s family.

Cornelius Geldenhuys, through his legal representative advocate Vernon Strauss, approached Solomon Cquku’s family on Monday and offered them the cash to help with funeral arrangements.

Geldenhuys is accused of shooting and killing Cquku while he was on his bicycle on Friday. He claimed the man had stolen property from his farm.

Speaking to The Star on Monday, Strauss said his client had approached Cquku’s family with the payment offer as a gesture of benevolence.

“My client is also traumatised. We offered them R1 500 because we realise they are poor and might need help with the funeral,” he said.

Strauss added: “It is out of humanity. and we are not trying to bribe them. They rejected the money and said it was too little and they instead asked for R20 000.”

However, the family denied asking for more money.

Cquku’s brother Albert said: “How could we sell our brother for R20 000? He has children who need to be taken care of after the funeral. We would rather get help from the government than from the man who killed him.”

On Monday, the deceased’s family approached Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality and the social development offices for assistance.

 

Geldenhuys, a part-time farmer, made his first appearance in the packed Koster Magistrate’s Court on Monday. In an affidavit read out in court by Strauss, Geldenhuys said he lived in Faerie Glen, Pretoria, but was planning to move his family to his Koster farm.

He said safety at the farm was one of his biggest concerns.

Geldenhuys said he had arrived at the farm from a funeral in Lichtenburg on Friday and was informed that someone had broken into his property.

He was told that the man was on a bicycle and cycling towards Koster. Geldenhuys then drove in that direction and met Cquku.

“I asked him (Cquku) to load his bicycle onto my vehicle and then drive with me to Koster police station. He loaded the bicycle, but then ran away. I threatened to shoot him if he did not stop,” the statement read.

He said Cquku then stopped and started charging at him with his hands in his pockets. He thought Cquku had his samurai knife in his pocket and planned to stab him.

Geldenhuys used his .22 revolver to shoot him three times.

He claimed Cquku was wearing his cap, sneakers and bracelet that were stolen from the farm about four months ago.

He said that after shooting Cquku, he asked a passer-by to call the police. When they arrived, he said he handed over his firearm to them and was arrested.

According to the statement, there were no witnesses.

The State didn’t object to Geldenhuys’s bail application.

He was released on R5 000 bail and the case was postponed to December 7, angering the family and community members.

Chanting “phansi nge apart-heid” (down with apartheid), community members waited for Geldenhuys to exit the court.

But he was whisked away through the building’s back entrance in a relative’s vehicle.

 

Grace Mokiti, Cquku’s heartbroken widow and mother of his six children. aged between seven and 20, said the family had been left destitute since their breadwinner had been killed.

Cquku used to work on farms but had stopped a few months ago to do piece jobs.

“We depended on him. We are going to have even more problems because no one in the family works,” said Mokiti.

They would now depend on the pension grant of Cquku’s mother, Elda.

The family live in a small shack in Mountain View township, about 3km from where Cquku was killed.

Outside the shack, the bicycle Cquku used to look for piece job stands idle.

 

Elda said: “The fact that they give him such a small amount for bail isn’t helping. How are we supposed to feel as a family?”

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The Star

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