Curtain comes down on 1992 gem-sting murder

THE last surviving suspect accused of a triple murder that brought a Police diamond sting operation in the south of Namibia to a bloody end more than a decade ago is set to get off scot-free.

Some 13 and a half years after the event, Mariental Magistrate Alweendo Venatius has now concluded an inquest into the death of the three men who were killed when the trap that two Policemen set up with the help of an undercover informer took a deadly turn. CAMPBELL CONNECTIONThe Magistrate’s inquest findings are simple: that South Africans Mervin John Africa, Jacobus Alwyn Kruger, and Karel Fourie Prinsloo were responsible for the deaths of Police officers Christoff Swartbooi and Andreas Shilomboleni and secret Police informer Connie (‘Babatjie’) Campbell on October 18 1992.None of the three alleged killers will face prosecution in Namibia, however.Africa died two days after Shilomboleni, Swartbooi and Campbell were shot dead near Mariental.He was in turn killed by Prinsloo and Kruger, with whom he had fled to South Africa.Kruger has died in the meantime; he served part of a seven-year jail term that he received in 1995 for the killing of Africa.With Prinsloo the only remaining suspect still alive, the Prosecutor General has decided not to prosecute him alone, and has ended extradition proceedings aimed at getting him and Kruger arrested in South Africa and sent to Namibia to be prosecuted, the Magistrate was informed in a letter from the Office of the Prosecutor General.Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa told The Namibian yesterday that the death of Kruger and several witnesses who would have been asked to testify for the prosecution at an eventual trial, as well as the fact that several potential witnesses could no longer be traced, had weakened the State’s case to such an extent that it was decided that it would no longer be possible to successfully prosecute Prinsloo alone.Kruger’s death also means that it would no longer be possible to use a confession that he had made about the crimes he and Prinsloo were accused of – and in which he implicated Prinsloo – in an eventual trial, she said.”Now, the evidence which remains is not sufficient for the State to get a conviction at the end of the day,” Imalwa said.”Our case is really scanty at the moment,” she added.”There is no sufficient evidence for us to proceed.”GEM TRAP MURDERS ’92Imalwa also commented: “I think it’s very, very sad, looking at how the people were murdered and, at the end of the day, justice cannot take its course.It’s a serious blow to the criminal justice system.”Swartbooi (44) was a Warrant Officer in the Police’s Protected Resources Unit.Shilomboleni (36) was an Inspector in the same unit, and was the Commanding Officer of its Windhoek branch.Campbell (42) was an occasional illegal diamond-dealing suspect in cases that the unit had investigated.Only after his violent death did it emerge that he had in fact been recruited to act as an undercover agent for the unit.Magistrate Venatius’s inquest findings are based on evidence that was submitted to him in two voluminous Police dockets containing the results of the investigation of the three men’s deaths.BORROWED WEAPONSAmongst the material in the dockets is a statement that Kruger, then 27 years old, made before a Magistrate in Pretoria after his arrest on October 27 1992.In it, he related why and how he and Prinsloo had travelled to Namibia, how their meeting with what they thought were diamond dealers was set up with the assistance of Africa, and how this meeting then turned into an armed robbery and a triple murder.According to Kruger’s statement, he and Prinsloo were asked by a person he named as one Piet Bothma to travel to Namibia to fetch diamonds that they were told were worth R14 million.Kruger said he came to Namibia armed with a borrowed shotgun.Prinsloo was armed with a borrowed pistol.Africa, whom they had met at Rehoboth on a previous trip to Namibia, was with them.Africa organised the meeting that they were to have with the supposed diamond sellers, he claimed.The sellers were known to them only as “Mike”, “Johnny” and “Chris”.This meeting took place on a Sunday morning – October 18 1992 was also a Sunday morning – under a bridge on a road near Mariental, Kruger related in the statement.After “Johnny” had shown them some bank bags with diamonds, Prinsloo walked over to their vehicle’s boot.He took his pistol out of a briefcase in the boot and pointed this at the three supposed sellers, Kruger stated.He also instructed Kruger and Africa to tie up the three men, Kruger added.He said the biggest of the three men, “Johnny”, however became untied and rushed at him.”I shot once at the bridge to make him stand still but he continued running at me.I got a fright and another shot went off with which I hit Johnny on his body, but on the chest,” Kruger stated.Prinsloo grabbed the shotgun from him after that, Kruger claimed.Prinsloo then shot the other Policeman, Kruger’s statement indicates.He stated: “I saw Johnny’s blood and began to get sick and began to move towards the front of him.I heard a shot go off and Mr Prinsloo had ordered Mike to climb into the boot of the vehicle.”They then drove off in the direction of Keetmanshoop.On the way, Africa looked through the wallets of the two men they had left behind at the bridge, and only then did they realise that these people had in fact been Police officers, Kruger stated.After Africa had thrown the wallets out of their car’s window, Prinsloo announced that he was going to shoot “Mike”, Kruger continued.”I didn’t argue because I was afraid of Mr Prinsloo,” he stated.”Mike” turned out to have been Campbell.Kruger related that they stopped their vehicle about 45 kilometres from Mariental, and that Prinsloo opened the boot and ordered “Mike” to get out.Once he was out, “Mike started screaming and he was about three metres from Mr Prinsloo when he shot him with one shot.I saw how Mike fell, turned my head away and heard a second shot,” Kruger stated.15 BULLETSOnce they had returned to Johannesburg, they were told that the diamonds they had brought back with them were worth between R250 000 and R300 000, he also stated.He added that it was while they were still trying to collect their payment on the sale of the stones that Africa was killed.Prinsloo first punched him unconscious, and then instructed him – Kruger – to hit Africa on the head with a baseball bat.After that, they went to dump Africa’s body in the veld next to the road between Pretoria and Krugersdorp, Kruger stated.Kruger and Prinsloo were eventually convicted of attempted murder in connection with Africa’s death.Kruger was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and Prinsloo to a 10-year term for that crime.Both were later released on parole before they had completed their full sentences.According to her office’s information, Kruger died on September 4 2003, Imalwa said yesterday.While he may have ultimately escaped justice in Namibia, poetic justice may have got the better of him in the end.Kruger died from multiple gunshot wounds – as many as 15, according to the autopsy report – her office has been informed, Imalwa said.CAMPBELL CONNECTION The Magistrate’s inquest findings are simple: that South Africans Mervin John Africa, Jacobus Alwyn Kruger, and Karel Fourie Prinsloo were responsible for the deaths of Police officers Christoff Swartbooi and Andreas Shilomboleni and secret Police informer Connie (‘Babatjie’) Campbell on October 18 1992.None of the three alleged killers will face prosecution in Namibia, however.Africa died two days after Shilomboleni, Swartbooi and Campbell were shot dead near Mariental.He was in turn killed by Prinsloo and Kruger, with whom he had fled to South Africa.Kruger has died in the meantime; he served part of a seven-year jail term that he received in 1995 for the killing of Africa.With Prinsloo the only remaining suspect still alive, the Prosecutor General has decided not to prosecute him alone, and has ended extradition proceedings aimed at getting him and Kruger arrested in South Africa and sent to Namibia to be prosecuted, the Magistrate was informed in a letter from the Office of the Prosecutor General.Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa told The Namibian yesterday that the death of Kruger and several witnesses who would have been asked to testify for the prosecution at an eventual trial, as well as the fact that several potential witnesses could no longer be traced, had weakened the State’s case to such an extent that it was decided that it would no longer be possible to successfully prosecute Prinsloo alone.Kruger’s death also means that it would no longer be possible to use a confession that he had made about the crimes he and Prinsloo were accused of – and in which he implicated Prinsloo – in an eventual trial, she said.”Now, the evidence which remains is not sufficient for the State to get a conviction at the end of the day,” Imalwa said.”Our case is really scanty at the moment,” she added.”There is no sufficient evidence for us to proceed.”GEM TRAP MURDERS ’92 Imalwa also commented: “I think it’s very, very sad, looking at how the people were murdered and, at the end of the day, justice cannot take its course.It’s a serious blow to the criminal justice system.”Swartbooi (44) was a Warrant Officer in the Police’s Protected Resources Unit.Shilomboleni (36) was an Inspector in the same unit, and was the Commanding Officer of its Windhoek branch.Campbell (42) was an occasional illegal diamond-dealing suspect in cases that the unit had investigated.Only after his violent death did it emerge that he had in fact been recruited to act as an undercover agent for the unit.Magistrate Venatius’s inquest findings are based on evidence that was submitted to him in two voluminous Police dockets containing the results of the investigation of the three men’s deaths.BORROWED WEAPONS Amongst the material in the dockets is a statement that Kruger, then 27 years old, made before a Magistrate in Pretoria after his arrest on October 27 1992.In it, he related why and how he and Prinsloo had travelled to Namibia, how their meeting with what they thought were diamond dealers was set up with the assistance of Africa, and how this meeting then turned into an armed robbery and a triple murder.According to Kruger’s statement, he and Prinsloo were asked by a person he named as one Piet Bothma to travel to Namibia to fetch diamonds that they were told were worth R14 million.Kruger said he came to Namibia armed with a borrowed shotgun.Prinsloo was armed with a borrowed pistol.Africa, whom they had met at Rehoboth on a previous trip to Namibia, was with them.Africa organised the meeting that they were to have with the supposed diamond sellers, he claimed.The sellers were known to them only as “Mike”, “Johnny” and “Chris”.This meeting took place on a Sunday morning – October 18 1992 was also a Sunday morning – under a bridge on a road near Mariental, Kruger related in the statement.After “Johnny” had shown them some bank bags with diamonds, Prinsloo walked over to their vehicle’s boot.He took his pistol out of a briefcase in the boot and pointed this at the three supposed sellers, Kruger stated.He also instructed Kruger and Africa to tie up the three men, Kruger added.He said the biggest of the three men, “Johnny”, however became untied and rushed at him.”I shot once at the bridge to make him stand still but he continued running at me.I got a fright and another shot went off with which I hit Johnny on his body, but on the chest,” Kruger stated.Prinsloo grabbed the shotgun from him after that, Kruger claimed.Prinsloo then shot the other Policeman, Kruger’s statement indicates.He stated: “I saw Johnny’s blood and began to get sick and began to move towards the front of him.I heard a shot go off and Mr Prinsloo had ordered Mike to climb into the boot of the vehicle.”They then drove off in the direction of Keetmanshoop.On the way, Africa looked through the wallets of the two men they had left behind at the bridge, and only then did they realise that these people had in fact been Police officers, Kruger stated.After Africa had thrown the wallets out of their car’s window, Prinsloo announced that he was going to shoot “Mike”, Kruger continued.”I didn’t argue because I was afraid of Mr Prinsloo,” he stated.”Mike” turned out to have been Campbell.Kruger related that they stopped their vehicle about 45 kilometres from Mariental, and that Prinsloo opened the boot and ordered “Mike” to get out.Once he was out, “Mike started screaming and he was about three metres from Mr Prinsloo when he shot him with one shot.I saw how Mike fell, turned my head away and heard a second shot,” Kruger stated.15 BULLETS Once they had returned to Johannesburg, they were told that the diamonds they had brought back with them were worth between R250 000 and R300 000, he also stated.He added that it was while they were still trying to collect their payment on the sale of the stones that Africa was killed.Prinsloo first punched him unconscious, and then instructed him – Kruger – to hit Africa on the head with a baseball bat.After that, they went to dump Africa’s body in the veld next to the road between Pretoria and Krugersdorp, Kruger stated.Kruger and Prinsloo were eventually convicted of attempted murder in connection with Africa’s death.Kruger was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, and Prinsloo to a 10-year term for that crime.Both were later released on parole before they had completed their full sentences.According to her office’s information, Kruger died on September 4 2003, Imalwa said yesterday.While he may have ultimately escaped justice in Namibia, poetic justice may have got the better of him in the end.Kruger died from multiple gunshot wounds – as many as 15, according to the autopsy report – her office has been informed, Imalwa said.