Parents of dead Middelburg woman did not approve of relationship with cop

The woman that was found dead on the side of the road in Kranspoort, Middelburg, has been identified as 31-year-old Maryka Kleinhans, reports Middelburg Observer.

Maryka’s distraught parents, Johan and Petro Bezuidenhout, told Middelburg Observer: “Why were we kept away from the scene? Why didn’t [police] let us know she had died? Why did people outside Lydenburg call our daughter on Monday morning and sympathised, but hadn’t even let us know that she was dead? Something doesn’t make sense.”

They said what was most tragic was that the Captain did not even call them, despite having their number.

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They have questioned the circumstances associated with her death when they went to fetch her remains.

The Bezuidenhouts said they went to a morgue in Middelburg after hearing of their daughter’s death, where they were told that the viewing of her dead body would take about an hour. “We were at the offices for more than six hours and waited while her corpse was being viewed.”

Johan said that a police officer reported a suspicion of foul play in her death.

Their questions are spurred on by the fact that no one informed them of their child’s death on the evening her body was discovered.

“Awie called his brother from the scene and told him to come to the scene. His brother apparently stays two blocks away from us. He could have come to pick us up. I could have seen her on the scene, but instead, I had to see her when I identified her in a morgue with other people. It was terrible,” said Maryka’s emotional father.

Johan said the Captain told them around midnight that Maryka sat in the backseat of the car they were travelling in. Maryka and the Captain went to Loskopdam for the day and returned in the evening.

“He told us they had a small argument, and that she wanted to move to the backseat of the car. It is very unlikely that she wanted to move to the backseat, because like me, she gets car sick when she sits in the back,” Petro explained.

What baffles the parents is that Maryka wanted to jump out of the car.

“Awie also told us that another car drove over her while he was trying to help her gain consciousness.”

The couple said they had never met the Captain, and that their daughter was seen in a car with him twice. They allegedly knew their daughter was in a relationship with the Captain, and had been for the past three months.

They did not approve of the relationship, and did not want their three-year-old granddaughter to go with Maryka when she went to see the Captain.

Johan said he just wanted the truth of how his daughter died.

“Should we be afraid that the docket is going to go missing?”

Maryka’s parents were told on Monday that IPID would be investigating the case. Maryka was a professional hairstylist in Lydenburg. She is survived by her parents, a sister, brother, and her three-year-old child.

Maryka was due to be a state witness on February 8 in a case against a Vic Welgemoed, who has a host of allegations against him including impersonating a police officer.

Middelburg Observer’s attempted to reach the Captain have been unsuccessful so far.

The police officer in question is known to the Middelburg Observer, but he has not yet been charged, and his identity is therefore being withheld.

This article was translated from Afrikaans by Nica Schreuder. 

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