Boondock murders: answers demanded from SAPS
Luke von Johnston and John Ntimane were killed on Tuesday.
“So who shot my cousin Luke von Johnston then?”
Neville Ronald Rudd’s question echoed that of many a Lowvelder.
Von Johnston, a Lowveld legend, was killed on Tuesday.
His body was found close to that of his employee John Ntimane on the well-known Boondock farm in Lows Creek.
In the past two days, a sequence of events followed that left Lowvelders with more questions than answers.
Shortly after the killings, police confirmed that a suspect had handed himself over. He was expected to appear in the Barberton Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Lowvelder was there when Mark Norris, Von Johnston’s neighbour, arrived at court under police custody. Yet he was never called to the accused dock. “There is at this stage not enough admissible evidence on the docket to warrant the matter to be enrolled,” said NPA spokesman Monica Nyuswa. Norris was released.
It was alleged that Johnston was on the receiving side of serious threats prior to the incident.
Both victims’ families and friends were baffled. Not only were they dealing with the sorrow of losing loved ones – the police’s inability to prove what had happened added insult to injury.
Von Johnston’s god son, Ashley Boag, spoke to Lowvelder yesterday. With no confirmed suspect in the shooting, he sought answers from the Lows Creek police station telephonically. “No high ranking police official was available at the station to tell us what had happened,” he said.
Lowvelder presented the police questions including the following:
- Is the police in possession of the gun used to kill Von Johnston and Ntimane?
- Did post mortem results indicate how they died and how many times they were shot?
- Have the gun and bullets been sent for ballistic investigations?
- Why did Tuesday’s reported confession not carry enough weight to warrant a suspect being charged in court?
- Was the police’s docket incomplete and, if so, why?
Lowvelder is obtaining answers from Spokesman Serg Gerald Sedibe, which will be printed in tomorrow’s paper.
Luke von Johnston’s friends and family stressed that they want answers. “We are devastated. Everybody loved him. He was such a beloved person. He fought for everybody. He fought for the poor and he fought for conservation.”
