Self-defence or calculated execution?

Chevonne Liebenberg with her dad Retief Liebenberg.

Chevonne Liebenberg with her dad Retief Liebenberg.

Published Nov 8, 2015

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Johannesburg - Was Benoni businessman Retief Liebenberg an overprotective dad who deliberately shot dead his daughter’s problematic boyfriend and his father?

Did he execute them to get rid of them, or did he snap after bottling up emotions for a long time and genuinely cannot remember shooting them?

These are the questions Pretoria High Court Judge Mahomed Ismail will have to determine when he decides on Liebenberg’s fate.

The 50-year-old is facing two charges of murder after the shooting of Dewald Visser, 47, and his son, Poena, 19.

The pair were gunned down in Liebenberg’s home on October 31, 2013.

Liebenberg pleaded not guilty.

He said he shot and killed the pair in self-defence.

He also claimed he suffered from amnesia and could not recall firing nine shots – five which hit the father and four Poena.

Liebenberg said he only realised what he had done when he saw Visser lying at the front door and Poena in front of the fridge in the kitchen.

According to Liebenberg’s daughter Chevonne, a blonde beauty, Poena was a drug addict.

Poena was abusive towards her and she tried in vain to get away from him.

On the evening of the incident, Liebenberg found Poena in his daughter’s bedroom.

He was lying on her bed and spoke aggressively to him.

Poena wagged his finger at Liebenberg and vowed to f**k him up.

Liebenberg said he did not want trouble, but he suspected Poena had hurt his daughter as her beads were scattered on the floor and there was blood on the curtains.

He told Poena he was going to call the police, but the young man said it would not help, as he knew people in high places.

When Poena said he was going to call his dad to come to the house, Liebenberg realised trouble was brewing.

He went to fetch his pistol to “protect” himself.

Dewald arrived at the house and assaulted Liebenberg’s brother in the lounge.

Liebenberg said Chevonne, who was also in the lounge, fainted.

As he tried to pick her up, the father and son hit him on the head and in the face.

Liebenberg said he “lost it” and could not recall firing nine shots at them.

A psychiatrist said given Liebenberg’s profile, he acted involuntarily at this point and had been unable to distinguish between right and wrong.

But the State argued this could not be true, because Liebenberg aimed at his targets and meticulously fired at their upper bodies.

Prosecutor Phyllis Vorster said Liebenberg did not simply fire in front of him.

He gunned the one down at the door and the other a distance away in the kitchen, she said.

It seemed they were killed execution style, she submitted.

The case is due to resume on November 19.

– The Sunday Independent

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