Catherina Louisa du Plessis

Catherina "Rina" Louisa du Plessis (1930 - 2003)

Brief overview:

Rina (73), died an horrific death at the hands of two murderers, who escaped with only R9. On 23rd November 2003, Rina was feeding her chickens, at farm Mellbourne, when the two perpetrators attacked her and dragged her to the barn. She was beaten with a steel pipe and axed to death on the farm in Tom Burke, in the Waterberg district near the Botswana border.

When her husband, Andries Hendrik 'Oom Dup' (75), arrived home he went looking for his wife and was also attacked by the men. The men dragged Du Plessis, into the house and demanded money. He told them he needed to get it from a cupboard. He pulled out a shotgun and the two men fled. A seriously injured Du Plessis drove to his workers' quarters for help.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
  • Oom Dup du Plessis died in a car accident in early 2004.
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
  • R9 in cash
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
  • It was uncovered during the hearings that Rina's dentures were forced so deep down her throat that the pathologist struggled to extract them during the post-mortem, and he had to cut into her throat to remove them.
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
  • Two suspects were picked up about 15km from the farm by police soon after the attack. According to police, the suspects were after a lump sum of money Du Plessis apparently had withdrawn.
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • Two suspects - Jan Medupe (23), and Oriel Monyebodi (28) appeared in Lephalale magistrate's court in November 2004. Inspector Jurg van Heerden, investigating officer in the case, testified before Judge Mahomed Ishmail. In a statement read in court, captain Herman Lubbe testified that Medupe recounted after his arrest how he put a cloth with an iron bar in Du Plessis's mouth when she started screaming after they overpowered her. He also testified that Medupe said they tied her hands and feet and hid her behind a bale of lucerne in a shed.
  • One of the suspects in the murder, was under correctional supervision when the murder was committed.
  • The other suspect was released on parole, after a sentence for, among other things, livestock theft, expired less than five months previously.
  • According to information, Jan Medupe (23) was found guilty of burglary in the Lephalale area in August the previos year. He was released under correctional supervision after six months in prison.
  • Oriel Monyebodi (28), his co-accused, was found guilty of rape at Witpoort near Lephalale in 1996 and served his sentence. In May 2001 he was in court on charges of "livestock theft and related matters", for which he was sentenced to prison.
  • The two appeared in court on the same morning that Du Plessis was buried on the Du Plessis family farm Groenfontein, outside Polokwane.

Additional Biographical Information:

Rina was Miss Pietersburg at one stage.

Identity Number : 3004240021088

Cause of death : Suffocation

• https://archive.is/RbDNC

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.ph/0lGpA
• http://archive.fo/AhdiK
• http://web.archive.org/web/20040619202456/http://www.news24.com/New...
• https://archive.ph/0ZCwT
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194782522828

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• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Dec 5 2022, 17:52:31 UTC