Erich Ellmer

Erich Ellmer (1948 – 1996)

Brief overview:

Erich (48), was shot dead outside the family home in Johannesburg in an attempted hijacking on 15th August 1996.

"Mrs Ellmer and her two children witnessed her husband Erich, a German business executive, being murdered in the family driveway by two car thieves. In the middle of the attack, their neighbour appeared and started shooting at the robbers. The couple, who had cheered the ANC at the elections but were dismayed by the lawlessness that has since engulfed the country, had been planning to leave South Africa."

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • 29/08/1996: "If any country deserves a happy ending it is South Africa but two years after the election of President Mandela all that was fought for so hard is jeopardised by crime. It is the level of violent crime which is truly exceptional. South Africa's annual murder rate is 45 per 100,000 people, compared with an international average of 5.5 in 100,000. The country has an assault rate of 840 per 100,000, compared with an average of 142. So low, it seems, is respect for life that a mobile phone or laptop is worth killing for. Most live in terror of "carjacking", now an epidemic with more than 8,500 incidents in Johannesburg alone last year. Local newspapers print handy cut-outs - "Car hijackings - what to expect and how to react", with useful statistics: most hijackings take place on Wednesday and Thursday between 4pm and 8pm - around which the paranoid might plan their lives. Everyone knows a carjack victim. Last weekend, a quarter of a mile from our street, an elderly man was murdered by car thieves. Two weeks ago a colleague was held up at gunpoint when she stopped to fill up at a petrol station. While she fumbled for her bag her teenage assailants shot into the vehicle while her three children cowered in the back."
  • 02/02/1999: Yong Koo Kwon (50), president of the South African division of South Korea's Daewoo Car Corporation, was found dead in the driver's seat of his car in Johannesburg's northern suburbs on Tuesday morning. He had a single bullet wound to his head from a shot apparently fired through the window. It was assumed he had died in an attempted car hijacking, but police were cautious in attributing a motive to the killers. The Daewoo executive was shot after passing through the gates of the luxurious guest-house in which he was staying. Mr Kwon, who had been in South Africa for a year, had left a dinner hosted by South Korean ambassador Young Sun Kim at 10.30 on Monday evening. His body was discovered at 3am.

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• 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

Additional Biographical Information:

Erich was the company secretary at AEG.

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.fo/xZqu2
• https://archive.fo/cIpkq
• https://archive.is/qxm7P