Gruesome details of Boondocks killings emerge

MBOMBELA – More than two years after Luke von Johnston (66) and John Khoza (73) were killed, shot execution-style on Boondocks farm, their families have had no closure.

Their killer, Mark Norris, committed suicide earlier this year, weeks before he was set to stand trial for the double murder. He also killed his mother, Silvia Norris (neé Tonetti) in her home on October 2, before turning the gun on himself.

READ MORE: Mark Norris murder-suicide: Farm community lived in fear

Norris had alleged that he acted in self-defence when he shot Von Johnston and Khoza. This, however, is emphatically denied by the coroner.

In a sworn affidavit, dated June 2018, he says there were no defensive blunt injuries to either victim, to suggest any physical altercation between either one of them and their killer.

Instead, the autopsy reports, along with the ballistics report, which Lowvelder obtained this week, read like a horror story, describing how experts believe events unfolded on that day; October 24, 2017.

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According to Von Johnston’s autopsy, the first shot hit him from long range in the shoulder. “The victim and the shooter were most likely in standing positions and near each other, but in distance more than 50 centimetres,” his autopsy report reads.

The sketch plan shows he was right next to his vehicle, which was parked about three metres in front of the gate.

The second was, “another potentially fatal gunshot fired very shortly or immediately after the first one, while the target body was in motion and exposing its left back to the shooter”.

Von Johnston probably fell on his back on the ground with the left side of his face on the ground as well. The third shot was to his chest while he was lying on his back. All three were deemed potentially fatal.

The fourth, in his right temple, resulted in instant death.

“The cartridge case… indicates the possibility that the shooter was close to the deceased” at the time of shooting, the ballistics report states.

Khoza was first shot in the hand. The next three bullets all caused fatal injuries. The second entered his chest through his arm.

“It is a fatal and deadly injury; it would have totally incapacitated the victim,” the autopsy states.

He fell face down and the third bullet was into his back. The fourth was “a close range gunshot wound to the back of the head… while the victim was lying on the ground already and physically absolutely incapacitated”.

According to the sketch plan, his body was about eight metres to the left of the vehicle, next to the fence.

The ballistics report notes that “the possibility that the deceased was moving or running away from the shooter cannot be excluded”.

While the eight S&W .40 calibre cartridge cases recovered on the scene were confirmed to have been fired from the murder weapon, the ballistics report also points to the unexplained presence of five nine-millimetre bullets on the scene.

Spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, Monica Nyuswa, declined to comment on whether they believe that there may have been a second firearm on the scene. She explained that an inquest into the matter was ongoing.

“Until the inquest has been finalised, the matter is sub judice, and no information regarding the contents of the docket will be divulged to any party,” she said.

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