Cape Town - In three separate murder cases, partners stand accused of burying the bodies of their supposed loved ones. Two boyfriends allegedly dug graves in their own backyards.
In the first case, the Paarl resident arrested in connection with a suspected stolen vehicle belonging to his fiancée, Nicola Pienaar, has been charged with her murder after her body was found in his backyard.
Police say Jacobus Johannes Oosthuizen, 32, who was arrested in Port Elizabeth last week for being in possession of a suspected stolen vehicle, led the investigation team to the premises on Sunday night and pointed out a secluded area where the body was found buried under rubble.
Pienaar, 28, was reported missing in Paarl by her mother, Marlaine Pienaar-Vice about three weeks ago. A case of theft of a motor vehicle was also reported by Pienaar-Vice on January 10.
Jacobus Johannes Oosthuizen, 32
Pienaar had worked as an assistant at her mother’s psychology practice, and had been dating Oosthuizen for approximately one year. He appeared at the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Friday when his case was transferred to Paarl.
He had been caught after police received a call about a suspicious vehicle at a KFC restaurant in Cape Road, Port Elizabeth. The vehicle found in Oosthuizen’s possession is owned by Pienaar’s mother.
Oosthuizen told Eastern Cape police that he had dropped off his girlfriend in Oudtshoorn where she got on a bus back to Paarl after the two had argued while en route to Port Elizabeth on January 7.
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said that while their investigation is ongoing, Oosthuizen will appear in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court on Thursday on charges of theft of a motor vehicle, fraud and murder.
Thabo James Dube, who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend before burning and burying her body in his backyard, appeared briefly in the Moretele Magistrate’s Court in Hammanskraal on Monday for bail application.
The 38-year-old father had previously abandoned his bail application.
Thabo Dube is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Meisie Molefe. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi
Dube was arrested after he confessed to killing Meisie Molefe on October 6. He reported Molefe as missing on October 26, and turned himself in three months later.
He took police to the spot where he allegedly buried the 36-year-old Molefe. Police exhumed the remains of a person in the backyard of Dube’s home in Stinkwater near Hammanskraal.
Dube admitted to hitting Molefe on the head with an object. When he realised he had killed her, he dragged her body to the backyard to bury her, police say. He allegedly used petrol, oil and wood to set her alight. The mother of three children aged 12, eight and two years old was burnt beyond recognition.
The Gauteng provincial government said the family was still awaiting DNA results from the body.
While his case was postponed to February 9 for bail application, officials have offered to assist the family and also ensure that the children are looked after.
On Thursday, a woman and her lover briefly appeared in the Moretele Magistrate’s Court in Hammanskraal for allegedly killing her husband and burying him in the bush in Bosplaas, north of Pretoria.
Pathologists dig out a body of 61-year-old Selaelo Lekalakala, who was killed and dumped at Bosplaas bushes near Hammanskraal. Picture: Oupa Mokoena
Fikile Mongwe, 36, and co-accused Innocent Pilosa, 21, have been charged with murdering Selaelo Lekalakala.
Police said the 61-year-old had been murdered on December 30. He had been reported missing by his widow on January 16.
Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele said an accomplice, who only took part in the concealment of the body, had approached the police to tell them how Lekalakala had disappeared.
He said the wife’s boyfriend had called him on December 31, asking him to help carry a load of rubbish to the bush.
The matter was postponed to February 16.
* Additional reporting by ANA