Janet Meyer

Janet Meyer (1955 - 2010)

Brief overview:

Janet (55), was attacked and raped by a group of intruders at her caravan in Leaches Bay.

Less than a week later, she would be dead. According to her older brother, her organs failed after a stab wound became infected.

Ross and Tina Hartman, the couple who own the farm and who live in the main house about 30 metres away from Meyer’ s caravan, told the police later that they had heard barking from the dogs at 10pm, and that they stopped barking at 11.45pm.

Ross Hartman, 71, told the Saturday Dispatch yesterday that they were too frightened to investigate after the farm had been attacked on New Year’s Eve. In that incident, pigs were stolen.

This time, attackers forced their way into Meyer’ s caravan. At 2.30am, Meyer managed to drag herself to the farmhouse where she tapped on a window and told the Hartmans that she had been attacked and raped.

“She was full of blood and she was only wearing her T-shirt,” Hartman told the Saturday Dispatch yesterday. “She was in a terrible state.”

Police spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais said when police arrived at the farmhouse at 3.15am, Janet was taken to Frere Hospital and treated.

“She alleged that she was confronted by a group of men who allegedly stabbed and raped her,” Marais said.

Marais said Meyer was discharged from hospital at about 9am and at the scene of the crime, she told Marais and Assistant Commissioner Sandile Hloba what had happened.

By Friday, January 15, Meyer was feeling unwell, and over the weekend she was again admitted to Frere. Her fingers had become swollen where they had been slashed in the attack. She died on Monday 18th January 2010.

At her funeral yesterday at Greenfields Methodist Church, her brother, Kevin Meyer, said her death was a result of gangrene septicaemia in her left index finger.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
  • Greenfields Methodist Church,
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • The same farm was previously the target of a farm attack. According to the Dispatch Online, six men stole six pigs and cellphones from Ross Hartman (71) on December 31

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
  • Mobile phone, along with her TV and radio.
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
  • Four men
• Arrests
  • The man who appeared in court was the third suspect arrested in connection with her murder. He turned himself in to the police this weekend.
  • The first suspect was arrested at Frere Hospital in late February. He was apparently stabbed by his accomplices, for reasons that are not yet known to the police.
  • A second suspect was arrested last Wednesday. All three men were charged with murder, rape and robbery.
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • A man suspected of raping and murdering a woman on a farm in East London appeared in court on Monday.

Additional Biographical Information:

Meyer’s friend Sarah Luck, who had tea with her the day she was attacked, remembers how they were discussing the dangers of her living on her own in the caravan.

The tragic irony of them discussing how she may soon fall victim to crime has not escaped Luck – or that they were discussing Meyer’ s plans to leave East London at the end of February to start a new life in the Western Cape.

“I am just hoping and praying to the Lord that they are going to find those people who did this because I would like to face them and ask them, ‘Why would you do this to an innocent person?’”

Janet’s mother, Lovall Meyer, said: “I’m not angry, I’m just very sad. At least I know she’s with the Lord, who has been good to her.”

from: "Attacked woman dies" 2010/01/25 http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=375093

Links to Media articles:

• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/daily-dispatch/20111216/28...
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188428868852
• https://archive.is/WBvbW