Dr Sonja Botes

Dr Sonja Botes (1971 - 1997)

Brief overview:

Sonja (26), a young medical doctor serving her housemanship at Botshabelo Hospital, Bloemfontein, lived with her parents on the farm Valencia in the Brandfort district.

She left for work on the morning of 6th February 1997, and when she got to the entrance gate to the farm, she was overpowered by two perpetrators - Jimmy Scholtz and Calvin Eksteen (ages unknown), from Brandfort, who had been hiding in the long grass next to the gate.

She was abducted in her vehicle and driven to a desolate place where she was beaten to death. Her assailants left her tied up in the bushes next to a deserted farm road outside Bloemfontein Scholtz and Eksteen had been employed by Botes’s father.

EXTRACT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO FARM ATTACKS, FINAL REPORT 2003.

"PERPETRATORS. A comprehensive study in this regard, ‘Perpetrators of farm attacks: an offender profile’ had already been undertaken by D. Mistry and J. Dhlamini, attached to the Institute for Human Rights and Criminal Justice Studies at Tecknicon SA. They interviewed some 48 offenders who had committed farm attacks in 1997 and 1998 and who were serving prison sentences in prisons in Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, North West, Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga."

Case study 4:

"Free State - There were two perpetrators involved in this case. One of the perpetrators had been working for the parents of the victim for two weeks prior to the attack.

The victim was a 26 year old medical doctor. She was attacked on her way to work in the morning, after closing the gate on the road to her parent's home. The perpetrators say it took them two days to plan the attack. Both of them aver that their motive was to steal money, because they knew that doctors generally had money and that the victim’s parents were rich.

They knew what time she left the house to go to work on a daily basis, so they waited for her at the gate. After she had closed the gate, they overpowered her and drove off with her to a deserted area, where they demanded money from her. One of the perpetrators claimed she gave them R35 000, 00 cash which she was taking to the bank. They took her bank card and demanded that she gave them her personal identity number.

Later on they withdrew R2 000 from her account. The other perpetrator, however, says that his accomplice is lying - the only money the young doctor had was R500, of which his friend took R310 and gave him R190.

They both declare, however, that the victim pleaded with them not to rape or kill her. One perpetrator states that they agreed that they were going to tie her to a tree and leave her there. After doing a body search and taking the money, the perpetrator who drove the car decided to turn the car around. He says that when he turned back, he was surprised to discover that his friend had strangled the victim and gouged out her eyes.

When he asked his friend why he had killed her, he replied that he had been afraid that she would have been able to identify them. His reason for gouging out her eyes in addition, was that he was afraid he would always see her image before him."

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
  • The perpetrators fled in her car (a state vehicle), which was later found abandoned. They also took her watch and bank card, and withdrew money from her bank account, for which she had given them the pin code number.
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • They were indicted in the Free State High Court for murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances, and both found guilty and both sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
  • During the investigation it came to the attention of the investigating officer that the perpetrators had wanted to take revenge on the father of the deceased because of a dispute between them over work and pay.

Additional Biographical Information:

• Identity Number : 7101160020086
• Cause of death : Associated with head and abdominal injuries

Links to Media articles:

• https://africacheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Final-Report-Com...
• https://archive.is/sLkCV
• https://archive.is/JZFbN
• Springbok Southern African club - Phoenix, Arizona: Newsletter (Original source, broken link)

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Sonia Botes * 16.1.1971 † “Valencia”, dist. Brandfort 6.2.1997 (Gazette # 17924 p. 66/7.3.1997)