George hotel murder still unsolved 20 years later

Christine Brockbanks, whose daughter Leslie van Zyl, 28, was murdered in the King George Hotel in George, Western Cape on 28 August 2000, still clings to the hope that modern-day forensics might shed more light on the case which has gone ice cold.

“I feel in my heart someone in George knows what happened that horrible night.”

In 2007 the court found that “an unknown person was responsible for the murder and that no-one could be charged”.

“I have tried to get Leslie’s clothes and other stuff tested for DNA again, so much has happened with new technology. But I feel as if I’m up against a brick wall,” says Brockbanks.

The Liberty Life insurance representative from Fish Hoek was found dead in her hotel room with multiple stab wounds and signs of strangulation.

“People who I’ve never met are still so shocked that it is 20 years ago and we are no further to getting her murderer. To me it feels as if it was yesterday,” says Brockbanks.

In 2007 former George Herald journalist, Pauline Lourens, reported about phone calls made from a public telephone call box outside the then Dros restaurant to room 205, where Leslie stayed on the night of her murder.

The identity of the caller could never be traced.

During her assault in the hotel room, a hotel guest saw her door standing ajar and heard a woman faintly saying, “You’re hurting me, leave me. Please let me go.”

In his affidavit the guest said he got the impression that there was a man in the room, although he saw no one. He heard several hard bumping sounds and saw a closed bathroom door when he peeped inside.

The guest reported the matter to reception, and personnel, including a security guard, was dispatched.

Confusion reigned as staff went to and fro between the hotel main building and the room where Leslie eventually bled to death.

The hotel manager at the time revealed that he had been afraid to breach the privacy of a hotel guest.

The first article in George Herald appeared three days after her murder, on 31 August 2000. Image: George Herald.

He said in an affidavit that he had had an unfortunate experience in his previous job and had not wanted to risk a repeat of such unpleasantness. As a result no one had entered the room or knocked at her door.

The investigating officer, Klippies Theron, confirmed that no one had immediately summoned the police.

Police investigators could never identify a fingerprint on the Do-Not-Disturb sign hanging on Leslie’s hotel room door, nor could they find any trace of her assailant in the blood-spattered bathroom where she was left with her head covered with a piece of cloth.

Her jewellery and purse were missing, but her laptop and cellular phone had not been stolen.

Brockbanks asks anyone who might have information relating to her daughter’s murder to send her an e-mail to cbrockbanks@yahoo.com. “I need closure. I desperately need to be at peace,” she says.

This article first appeared on George Herald and was republished with permission.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.