Wellington has been rocked by the murder of a couple who were found with hands bound and bags over their faces.
|||Wellington - The Boland town of Wellington has been rocked by the murders of an elderly couple whose bodies were found in their home.
Daan Rousseau, 71, and his wife Erka, 70, were living peacefully in retirement in a large house on Charon Street in an up-market neighbourhood. The pair busied themselves with church services and morning walks.
But on Wednesday evening, they were found dead in their bedroom, their hands tied behind their backs and plastic bags wrapped over their heads. Nothing appeared to be missing from the house other than Erka’s handbag and the couple’s cellphones.
Their eldest son, Pierre, whose dog was being cared for by his parents, was the first to realise something was wrong.
Pierre “spoke to his father at 9.48am on Wednesday and told him he was on his way to pick up his dog”, said Johan Cilliers, a neighbour and teacher in the town.
Pierre arrived about an hour later, but nobody answered the door.
“He could hear the dog barking inside… He thought that his parents had gone out.”
In a rush to attend to a commitment in Sutherland, he slipped a book through the door to show them he had dropped by.
But later, after his mother’s congregation reported that Erka had been absent from church, and after numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach his parents, Pierre phoned the police.
Cilliers, who had known the couple for almost 25 years, said when he looked out of the window of his home, he was shocked to see a fleet of police vehicles outside the couple’s home.
“I joined them and started looking myself. Then the cops spotted that his car was still in the garage.”
Police found a sliding door was open at the back of the house and were given permission to go inside.
Cilliers said: “I watched them go in, and then one came out. He told me the couple were still in the house but they were dead. He told me Daan was lying on the floor and Erka was lying on the bed… Both of them were covered with sheets.”
Police suspect the pair were strangled and suffocated.
Police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said that by Thursday night no arrests had been made.
The investigation was continuing.
Another son of the couple, Siegfried, was outside the house on Thursday night. He said it was reassuring to see that police were taking the case seriously.
But he was frustrated.
“Why would anyone do this to a sweet, defenceless old couple?”
Holding back tears, the 40-year-old, who had flown down from Joburg, said there could be no justice.
The criminals “have taken away my parents’ basic right to live. Even if they get arrested, there will not be justice.”
The couple had three sons – Pierre, Siegfried and Wouter – and three grandchildren.
The couple are to be buried from Church East in Wellington at 10am on Monday.
kieran.legg@inl.co.za
Cape Argus