Eugene van Rooyen

Eugene van Rooyen (1982 - 2005)

Brief overview:

Eugene (23), and his friend, Krappies Rossouw (24), were ambushed by between four and six armed robbers at their townhouse in Eldoraigne, Centurion, Pretoria, on 30th April 2005. They had returned home at around 04h30 after visiting friends.

Krappies was shot three times in the heart. Eugene locked himself in his room, but the attackers fired shots through the door, hitting him in the shoulder. He than managed to lock himself in his bathroom, and started shouting for help. The armed men broke down the bathroom door and shot Eugene in the face. He died in hospital ten days later.

The perpetrators fled the scene with two mobile phones, two wallets and in Eugene's pick-up truck, which was found later close to the scene.

Eugene's father, Hennie, a former director in the police and well-known in the criminal justice system, arrived at the townhouse a while later. He is bitter about the police's poor handling of the investigation into the gruesome death of his son and his friend.

The events inspired him to write his sixth book about police work, Crime Scene Investigation, to help policemen in their detective work.

Hennie put out a reward of R500,000 for information leading to the arrest of his son murderers.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Street/Suburb
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • Motlou - a father of four children with a long list of previous convictions - was part of a gang that terrorised Lyttelton and Eldoraigne residents between 1995 and 2005, breaking into a series of houses and progressively becoming more violent. In the process, several houses were burgled, two women were gang-raped and robbed and two young friends, Eugene van Rooyen and Krappies Rossouw, were shot dead.

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
  • On Friday 15th April 2007 Judge Francis Legodi sentenced vegetable hawker Steve Motsweni Motlou (32), to three life terms and 84 years imprisonment (which will all run concurrently) on two charges of murder. Other charges against Motlou included a rape charge, six charges of housebreaking with the intent to steal and four of housebreaking with the intent to rob.

Additional Biographical Information:

Additional information from the article:

"Family members of Van Rooyen wept while Judge Legodi was delivering judgement. Van Rooyen's father, Hennie, said no punishment was good enough for the loss of his son. Van Rooyen's mother, Anita, earlier told reporters she would never be able to forgive his murderers. She was bitter about the fact that a man with such along history of crime was allowed out on the streets so that he could kill and rape and blamed the legal system and police for her son's fate."

• Identity Number: 8110305086083
• Cause of Death: UNNATURAL CAUSES

Links to Media articles:

• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188302153871
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188302873842
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188302585873