As we enter into August, also known as Women’s Month, I felt it devastatingly crucial to talk about a particular case.
More than two decades ago, in a quiet suburb in Heidelberg, multiple families’ lives would change forever.
Liz-Marie Minny, 19 years old at the time, had broken off her engagement to her abusive partner, Johan Rosslee.
This was a couple of months before Rosslee decided that if he couldn’t be with Liz-Marie, then no one would.
After the breakup, Liz-Marie met Jaco Greyling, and the two had an immediate connection and started dating.
As Liz-Marie was still receiving death threats from Rosslee, Greyling’s parents invited her into their home.
On the afternoon of October 29, 2003, Rosslee went into the Greyling family home where Liz-Marie was staying.
He knew that she worked half-days and would be home soon.
Unfortunately, Jaco’s brother Abrie arrived home first and was shocked to find Rosslee going through Liz-Marie’s belongings.
An altercation ensued, and Abrie was stabbed to death.
Shortly after that, family friend Heloise van der Westhuizen and her son Donovan (only three years old) arrived at the home, and they were both stabbed to death.
Still, Rosslee waited for Liz-Marie.
He hid the bodies in the bathrooms and was busy cleaning up the blood when she arrived.
Later, Liz-Marie was found tied to her bed, naked, with 14 stab wounds.
Jaco’s parents, Neels and Magda, arrived home after a doctor’s appointment and discovered a scene so severe that one of the police officers attending to the scene resigned.
Rosslee pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
This sentence was appealed by the state and was changed to life in prison.
Unfortunately, in South Africa, we know what that means, and Rosslee is already eligible to apply for parole.
He now claims that he only murdered Abrie; someone else must have murdered the other three victims.
In May 2015, Neels Greyling, no longer able to face the reality of a life without his son, took his own life.
This house in Von Geusaurylaan, now abandoned, was also the place where another murder took place.
The Greyling family, no longer wanting to live in the house, sold the property a year after the murders took place.
Unfortunately, and strangely, the new owner was shot dead in a hijacking soon after moving in.
If Rosslee had been able to contain his jealousy, five innocent people would probably still be alive and well.
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