GEORGE Barkhuizen, who murdered his wife Odette on June 11, 2015, has been found guilty and has been sentenced to effective life imprisonment.
Individually he received 25 years for murder, 15 years for fraud, six years for unlawful possession of a firearm and two years for the unlawful possession of ammunition, which will run concurrently.
Odette (43) was brutally gunned down and killed at her business premises in Oakdene, leaving behind her estranged husband George, her two sons Warwick and Wade, and parents Stan and Pam Immelman.
Odette was shot twice and died on the scene in what was first thought to be an attempted hijacking. Her vehicle was stolen but found a few hours later not far from where she was murdered.
On June 16, 2015, a memorial service was held for her and a friend of Odette told the Comaro CHRONICLE she was suspicious about the murder but couldn’t reveal more information until there was proof.
Barkhuizen, at this time, was apparently looking into her murder and was said to be struggling to come to terms with her death.
Private detectives and SAPS members investigated her murder for weeks with sources close to the case saying a suspect had been identified.
Barkhuizen was named a suspect and on September 8, 2015, he became the prime suspect in the murder case and was arrested. He faced charges of murder, fraud, unlawful possession of a firearm and the unlawful possession of ammunition.
Barkhuizen appeared in court on July 10 and September 16, 2015, where his bail application was denied.
Following this, Johannes Hattingh, a retired forgery expert, testified in South Gauteng High Court, where he told the court he’d compared a sample of Odette’s signature to that on a copy of her will and found it was ‘forged’.
He also stated signatures from policy documents in comparison to the will were totally different. It was further reported Barkhuizen had allegedly taken out life insurance of R7.5-million on Odette, weeks before she was shot.
Barkhuizen appeared in court on September 16, 2015, with his bail application denied.
He appeared again on October 16 and 29, 2015, with the case being postponed to November 23, 2015. On October 10, 2017, he was in court again where the case was postponed.
On July 10, 2019, judgment took place after final arguments for the defence, with him appearing in Johannesburg High Court on September 20, where he was found guilty on four charges, premeditated murder, three charges of fraud and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
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