A day after the murder of an elderly Port Elizabeth electrician – whose body was shoved into a freezer – one of the accused, Chantell Russouw, bought a bottle of Captain Morgan rum, had her eyebrow pierced and took to Facebook to write: “Awesome Times”.
But the awesome times soon soured when Chantell’s brother, Wayne, also accused of the murder of Petrus Scholtz, 70, threatened to kill her if she went to the police, allegedly going as far as strangling her to make his point.
These astounding claims were made in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Thursday when Wayne, 31, and his co-accused, Ronald Swartz, 24, applied for bail.
Chantell, 35, and the siblings’ mother, Christine Russouw, 51, are also accused of the murder.
Chantell and Christine have abandoned their bail applications.
Investigating officer Warrant Officer Shane Bosch, in an affidavit before the court, painted a picture of a deeply fractured family who were all willing to throw each other under the bus to escape blame for the murder.
He said Wayne was a baldfaced liar who had made up stories about owning a business, having an income and a fianceé, in a bid to get bail.
According to the affidavit, when police knocked on the door of the Russouws’ Kabega Park home to question them, Christine and Chantell helped Wayne hide in the ceiling.
What the mother and daughter did not realise was that the police officers could see them all through the window and watched Wayne climb into the ceiling – which is where they caught him, allegedly surrounded by some of Scholtz’s stolen tools.
According to the state, on July 12 – just five days before Scholtz’s murder – Wayne made inquiries about where he could get hold of a firearm.
“[Wayne] indicated he wanted to take someone out that owed the family money,” Bosch said in his affidavit.
On July 16, Wayne took an Uber to Central to collect Swartz. The men were then dropped off at the family’s Woltemade Street home, where they met up with Christine and Chantell.
It was then that the plan was allegedly hatched to kill Scholtz “to steal his tools”.
Scholtz arrived later that night to fix a problem with the geyser and left.
The following day, Wayne called Scholtz to return to the house to collect his call-out fee.
The state alleges that all four of the accused plotted to kill Scholtz, with Wayne promising Swartz R10,000 to assist in the murder.
When Scholtz arrived shortly after 8pm, he was lured to the kitchen, where Swartz allegedly attacked him from behind and held him down, while Wayne beat him unconscious with a baton.
After Wayne allegedly tied Scholtz’s hands and feet together, he and Swartz put the body in a chest freezer. Christine then allegedly cleaned the kitchen floor “which was covered in blood”.
Later that night, Wayne and Chantell are believed to have driven to McDonald’s to buy food with money taken from Scholtz’s wallet.
The following day, Wayne and Chantell went to Cash Crusaders at Metlife Plaza where Chantell allegedly sold some of Scholtz’s tools for R3,000, claiming she was the rightful owner of the items.
She then had her eyebrow pierced and bought a bottle of Captain Morgan rum.
At about midnight, Wayne and Swartz took Scholtz’s body from the freezer and put it on the back of Scholtz’s bakkie.
The two men, accompanied by Chantell, then allegedly drove to Fairview and dumped Scholtz’s body in a bushy area near Willow Road.
Scholtz’s body was discovered on July 19, by which time Wayne had allegedly cleaned the freezer.
Wayne and Christine allegedly sold Scholtz’s bakkie the same day to Clint’s Auto Spares for R5,000.
The state says that after their arrest, Chantell gave a statement to police detailing her involvement in the murder and saying that she feared for her life as Wayne had threatened to kill her should she go to the police.
Wayne had allegedly strangled Chantell during an argument and there had been visible marks on her neck when she was arrested, the state says.
In his affidavit, Wayne denied any involvement in the murder, placing the blame on his mother, sister and Swartz.
He claimed to be the owner of a tow truck company and the financial provider for his son, but both claims were rubbished by state prosecutor Marius Stander.
“[Wayne] knows nothing about the murder, [yet] he still climbs into the ceiling – that is not normal conduct,” he said.
“The evidence is overwhelming, [Wayne] is implicated by [Swartz] and his other co-accused.”
Wayne’s defence advocate, Mxolisi Moolman, asked the court to consider exceptional circumstances in granting bail.
These included him being the financial provider for his son and his business suffering.
Stander quickly pointed out that Wayne had never owned a company, saying the tow truck company where he worked did not want him back.
“[Wayne] does not have access to documents to prove that he is the owner of the business [because he is in custody],” Moolman said.
Swartz’s Legal Aid attorney, Thembelani Pityana, told the court Swartz was fearful and had been forced to be part of the crime – which he claimed were exceptional circumstances.
Stander, however, told magistrate Thuli Betela that both men had a propensity to clash with the law as evidenced by a list of previous convictions against Swartz and pending cases against Wayne.
Shortly before Betela postponed the matter, Moolman said Wayne had indicated that his visitation rights had been infringed upon and that his former girlfriend was being threatened by the investigating officer not to talk to him.
Stander said he found it very strange that Wayne’s exgirlfriend would want to contact him.
“[Wayne’s] ex-girlfriend appointed an attorney who contacted me today,” Stander said.
“She has an interdict against him and he must adhere to it.
“He has broken the rules of the interdict and is interfering with state witnesses.”
It also emerged in court that Swartz had been transferred to North End Prison after Wayne allegedly threatened him while they were at St Albans.
According to the state, Wayne allegedly threatened to kill Swartz if he “did not take the rap” for the murder.
Judgment in the bail application will be delivered on September 11.
Read the affidavit here: