Gert van Rooyen
 | This article needs to be updated. (January 2019) |
Gert van Rooyen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Cornelius Gerhardus van Rooyen 11 April 1938 |
| Died | 15 January 1990 (aged 51) Pretoria, South Africa |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Occupation | Builder |
| Details | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Killed | 6 |
Cornelius Gerhardus van Rooyen (11 April 1938 – 15 January 1990), better known as Gert van Rooyen, was a South African
Biography
Cornelius Gerhardus van Rooyen, commonly known by the nicknames "Gert" and "Bokkie", was born in
Various reports as to the whereabouts of his victims have not been investigated, leaving their families unable to put them to rest.
Criminal history
Gert Van Rooyen's first crimes were various
In 1979, Van Rooyen abducted two girls, aged 10 and 13, taking them to the Hartbeespoort Dam near Pretoria, where he punched them in the face, ordered them to remove their clothing and sexually molested them. Van Rooyen released the girls in Pretoria the following day, and was subsequently arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment for the abduction, sexual assault and common assault of the girls, serving three years before being released.[2]
In August 1983, he and his wife Aletta
Possible victims
Van Rooyen is thought to have used Haarhoff to lure young girls for him. Children's homes reported that she telephoned requesting to bring girls home for the holidays and weekends. The couple applied to
- On 1 August 1988, 14-year-old Tracy-Lee Scott-Crossley of Randburg near Johannesburg disappeared. She was seen by witnesses climbing into a Volkswagen Beetle outside of the shopping mall in Cresta. A nationwide police search and hypermarket poster campaign were launched.[3] Her brother Mark, who had declined an offer to go shopping with her, was severely guilt-ridden and traumatised by her disappearance. In later life he was found guilty of the murder of a farm worker, beating him and throwing his unconscious body to the lions.[4]
- On 22 December 1988, 12-year-old Fiona Harvey of Pietermaritzburg disappeared. A white Ford Bantam pick-up truck used in her abduction with an advertisement for Van Rooyen's building-contracting business on it would later link him to this crime.
- On 7 June 1989, 12-year-old Joan Horn of Pretoria disappeared.[1]
- In July 1989, 16-year-old Janet Delport of Durban disappeared after being abducted in a shopping mall by a blonde woman. She was later found wandering around distressed, but unharmed.
- Some weeks later, 9-year-old Rosa Piel of Alberton disappeared.[1]
- On 22 September 1989, 11-year-old Odette Boucher and 12-year-old Anne-Mari Wapenaar, both of Kempton Park, disappeared.[1]
- On 29 September 1989, Kobie Wapenaar, Anne-Mari's mother, received a letter from her daughter claiming that she and Odette had run away to Durban with some boys. Odette's letter arrived a week after Anne-Mari's ― although it was posted on the same day, 23 September 1989, in Durban. It is suspected the letter was written under duress.
- On 3 November 1989, 13-year-old Yolanda Wessels, the niece of Van Rooyen's partner disappeared.[1]
- On 11 January 1990, 16-year-old Joan Booysen of Pretoria was abducted by Haarhoff in revolver.
All the above disappearances, with the exception of Rosa Piel, were linked by
In 1996,
In February 2001, Flippie Van Rooyen, Gert van Rooyen's son, was found guilty of
In June 1990, a customer at the Fabric Library in Midrand found a pencilled note, written in a childish hand, on a slip. It read: "I am Anne-Mari. My friend and I are with our kidnappers at (listed an address) . My friend has tried to phone, but was cut off."
Interviewed by the Sunday Star in April 1993, when news of the letter came to light, former Fabric Library personal assistant Debora Sloane said: "What riveted me was a little girl who came into the Fabric Library shortly before the note was discovered. This girl of about twelve had short black hair and appeared very scared. I can still see her sitting there and wondered at the time why she was looking so scared."
Contacted this week, Kobie Wapenaar told the Saturday Star that "the handwriting was definitely Anne-Mari's - and police handwriting experts confirmed it."
Although Ray Boucher said police investigations at the address given in Anne-Mari's note proved fruitless, it remains the only positive proof that she and Odette were perhaps alive months after the paedophile couple's bodies were cremated.
On 12 March 2007, renewed interest in the case occurred after a set of adolescent bones was found on the beach near
Significant public attention has been brought to bear on the case by the investigative television series Carte Blanche which [7] dedicated an episode[8] to the mystery.
In November 2007, bones were discovered in a property adjacent to Van Rooyen's house in Pretoria whilst ground was being dug up to install a swimming pool. Local authorities were alerted and police forensic experts were to determine if the bones were human.[9][10]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f Michael Schmidt (7 April 2007). "Van Rooyen and the missing girls". The Star. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
- ^ a b c d Gallagher, Christina (7 April 2007). "Feared God but 'loved' young girls". The Star.
- ^ Face to Face with Noereen Scott-Crossley Sunday Times (South Africa). 11 September 1988
- ^ Hills, Carol (12 August 2005). [URL needed "Scott-Crossley lion-killing trial:Still haunted by the ghost of Gert van Rooyen"]. Daily Dispatch.
{{cite news}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ a b "Paedophile's son on parole". iafrica.com. 22 April 2008.
- ^ "Mom's DNA test of hope". The Independent on Sunday. 7 April 2007.
- The Citizen.
- ^ "Fingerprint of Fate". Carte Blanche. 6 July 2007.
- ^ "New bones linked to Van Rooyen". News24. 14 November 2007.
- ^ Barry Bateman and Patrick Hlahla (15 November 2007). "Bones give new hope to solving Van Rooyen case; Forensic experts will confirm whether findings are human". The Star.
