Hendrina Johanna Elizabeth Louw

Hendrina "Gansie" Louw (1937 - 1996)

Brief overview:

Hendrina (57), owner of a guesthouse on farm Heldersig in Nieuwoudtville, NC, was brutally murdered on 24th September 1996.

Hendrina had guests for dinner that evening, her fiance Johan Viviers - an off-duty policeman, and Julia Fairbanks-Smith (37), visiting from England with her daughter Emma Lucy Wall (4). Five men gained entry to the house at 21h00.

The perpetrators were dubbed the "Flower Gang', because Julia and Emma had been out in the afternoon to look at the wild Spring flowers in the field. The first person they killed was Emma while she was in her bed - she was beaten, stabbed 29 times, her skull crushed and the shape of a military type boot was imprinted on her face. Julia was tied up, beaten and stabbed to death.

Hendrina was also tied up, stabbed and her throat was slit. Viviers was stabbed and left for dead. When he regained consciousness he had a penknife in his back. Viviers managed to burn the cord tied around his feet and drove to the police station two kilometres away.

The perpetrators stole a microwave oven, a television set, two hunting rifles and jewellery. Captain Paul van der Westhuizen described the murders as “a brutal and senseless attack”. “When you examine the background of the known suspects, one could easily assume that the motive for the slaying was to get drug money,” said Superintendent Jaco Campher who was leading the investigation.

Four of the suspects - Laston Chavula, Charles Adams (alias Chico, alias Charlie Boy, alias Ruggie, alias Aandiebrand), Johannes Bruintjes (alias Holland, alias Moonlight, alias Klein Holland), and Douglas Andre Solomons (alias China, alias Dougie) were apprehended and charged with murder and robbery. The fifth suspect, Dawid Ruiters (alias Doggy Dog), was arrested the following weekend after hitchhiking in the Eastern Cape. He was charged with murder in connection with the death of a Gauteng taxi driver. They were all convicted of a variety of violent crimes including the murder of Willem Adriaan Emmanuel Mongia, whose car they hijacked. They were sentenced to life imprisonment at various prisons around the country.

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
• 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
  • THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL OF SOUTH AFRICA - CASE NO: 222/2000
  • In the matter between : Laston Chavulla - first appellant, Andre Douglas Solomon - second appellant, Charles Adams, third appellant, Johannes Bruintjies - fourth appellant, Dawid Ruiters - fifth appellant.
  • In the Chavulla appeal the facts which are no longer in dispute may briefly be summarised as follows (the record in this appeal consists of 57 volumes running to some 5500 pages). On Saturday 21 August 1996 the deceased in count 1, Willem Mongia, was robbed of his BMW motor vehicle ("the BMW") near Malmesbury in the Western Cape by the second, third and fifth appellants (count 2). In the course of the robbery the second appellant killed Mongia by stabbing him with a knife (count 1) after which the third and fifth appellants helped him to bury Mongia's body. They intended using the BMW to commit further crimes and put this plan into action two days later when they broke into a farm-house in the district of Velddrift and stole a large quantity of goods (count 4). The stolen goods were conveyed to Atlantis near Cape Town in the BMW and sold with the help of the first appellant. The fourth appellant then joined them and all five appellants left Atlantis in the BMW intent on committing further crime. The first appellant's evidence that he was forced to accompany the others was correctly rejected by the trial Court. *https://archive.is/Jgp5W

Additional Biographical Information:

• ID Number : 3907020070085
• Official cause of death : Unnatural causes

Links to Media articles:

• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188346863832
• http://archive.is/bWzST
• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-herald-south-africa/20...
• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-herald-south-africa/20...
• http://archive.is/cDFYK
• http://archive.fo/EevXK
• http://archive.is/PcnVj
• https://truecrimesouthafrica.com/the-flower-gang-murders-episode-62/ (True Crime South Africa podcast)
• https://www.graves-at-eggsa.org/main.php?g2_itemId=211889