Pretoria - The alleged mastermind behind the gruesome Mooinooi killings of same-sex couple Anisha and Joey van Niekerk, Koos Strydom, died on Friday in a Pretoria hospital.
Strydom was rushed to hospital last week after he was found unconscious in his single cell in the Kgosi Mampuru Prison in Pretoria.
It is speculated that he tried to take his own life by taking an overdose of tablets or poison.
While Correctional Services confirmed that he had died, it said that the circumstances surrounding his death is still being investigated.
Wynand van Niekerk, brother of Joey, said that the entire Rustenburg was speculating about his death and the circumstances surrounding it.
He, however, could not shed more light and said he was also waiting for more details.
It is believed that Strydom, 54, died around lunchtime on Friday after he was declared brain dead by doctors.
Strydom leaves behind his young wife and co-accused, Mercia Strydom.
Anisha and Joey van Niekerk from Mooinooi near Brits in North West, went missing on 10 December 2017. They left for a funeral in Pretoria but never arrived. Their burnt out car was found on 16 December in the Magaliesburg area.
The State alleges that Koos Strydom and his wife, together with three co-accused kidnapped, robbed and killed the Van Niekerks on 10 December 2017.
The state further alleges that Strydom wanted to force Anisha to sell their smallholding to him, but she did not want to do so. According to the indictment, Strydom’s intentions were to kill the couple after the agreement of sale was signed.
When that failed, Strydom allegedly solicited the help of the other accused to kidnap the couple.
The victims were bound, raped, tortured and eventually shot. Their bank cards were stolen and used, allegedly by the accused in the days following the murder.
Strydom was due to again appear alongside his wife and three co-accused, Aaron (James) Sithole, his brother Jack Sithole and Alex Modau in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, early in November.
Strydom was also due to appear in October in another court on an unrelated murder charged.
While Judge Bert Bam will not hear Strydom’s side of the story, several witnesses, including Strydom’s own son Vincent Strydom, earlier this month gave damning evidence against him in the trial of the Van Niekerks’ killings.
Vincent was one of several witnesses who are in the State’s witness protection programme after they had turned against Strydom. Like some of the other witnesses, Vincent told the court that he was terrified of his father. He and others testified that Strydom threatened them with death if they would ever go against him.
There are also claims that Strydom, while awaiting trial in prison, earlier this year tried to obtain the services of a fellow inmate who was on the brink of being released on parole, to “get rid” of some of the witnesses.
The court meanwhile earlier this month, before the case was postponed to November, heard chilling evidence of how tears ran down the faces of the Van Niekerks while they were being gang raped.
This was the evidence of Moses Rakuba, who was there on the day Anisha and Joey van Niekerk were murdered on Strydom’s plot in Mooinooi. He explained how they were both hung from their necks in a garden shed next to the main house, before their bodies were burnt. The bones were later disposed of in a veld several kilometres away.
Wynand van Niekerk and other family members who were in court at the time, were visibly shocked by the details. Wynand at the time said it was terrible to hear for the first time what exactly happened to their loved ones.
The couple were allegedly murdered on December 10, 2017, after they were apparently abducted from their plot and taken to Strydom’s plot.
Witnesses testified that Strydom gave the instructions that they had to be killed, after they had signed a bogus contract that he had bought their plot. It was testified by his son that Strydom, who ran a panel beating business from the Van Niekerk’s plot, was tired to pay rent to them.
Strydom meanwhile fiercely took notes of all the evidence while in the dock earlier. He also moved his seat in the dock during the past few days of the trial, as “ accused no 2” to sit next to his young wife, 'accused no 5' in the dock.