Jurie Wynand Wessels

Jurie "Tool" Wessels (1966 – 2019)

Brief overview:

Tool (53), had left the house to take labourers back to their homes in town. His wife Liezel (55), was home alone at about 18.30 when four intruders attacked. Tool was ambushed on his return.

The perpetrators tied up the couple, and bound them to chairs. The perpetrators demanded firearms, cash and valuables. They poured boiling water over them. Liezel was stabbed in the chest with a sharp object. The perpetrators dragged Tool out of the house. He was found around 23h00 2 kilometres away from the house at an abandoned pump station, slumped the wall. He was gagged with a neck tie, hands tied behind his back, multiple stab wounds and shot in the head. Liezel managed to untie herself and drive to neighbouring farm for help.

Brief Biography:

Tool Wessels was an accountant for the local wineries, and owner of the farm Kapteinsdrif,

• Other Victims/Family:
  • Liezel Wessels
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding:
  • Kapteinsdrift farm, Bonnievale
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • The second time in five months a farm murder was committed in the valley. In December, Petrus Paulus Steyn and Elsie Sophia Wilhelmina Steyn from the farm Zandfontein were brutally killed.

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack:
  • 13/05/2019 (18h30)
• Weapons:
  • Firearms, Knives, sharp objects, boiling water
• Items Stolen:
  • Firearms, a safe, various items of value.
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
  • Colonel Andrè Traut
• Torture, Gratuitous violence:
  • Bound and gagged, beaten, scalded with boiling hot water, Tool stabbed multiple times, executed.
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions:
  • 4
  • Four wearing balaclavas
• Arrests:
  • One 19 year old arrested, charged and scheduled to appear in court for murder and attempted murder.
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s:
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
  • Lesotho
• Trial/Conviction
  • The suspect is scheduled to make a court appearance once he has been charged.
  • July 2022: Four Lesotho nationals between the ages of 25 and 26 were arrested and detained. The Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, praised members of the Provincial Organised Crime, for their investigation which led to the arrest of four Lesotho Nationals on charges of murder and attempted murder.
  • On Monday, 25 July 2022, three suspects were extradited at the Maseru border, assisted by Interpol where the warrant of arrest was executed. Once charged, the suspects are expected to appear in the Bonnievale Magistrate’s Court.
  • Friday 18th November 2022: The three farm workers extradited from Lesotho will go on trial next year, along with a fourth person. They appeared in the Western Cape High Court dock on Friday and heard through a seSotho interpreter that the trial will take place in the Swellendam Circuit Court from 23rd October 2023. The four remain in custody in Pollsmoor.
  • Moeketsi Hlaudi, Kekekso Ntsabisa and Thabiso Ramollo have been implicated in the deadly attack on 55-year-old Bonnievale farmer, Tool Wessels in 2019.
  • 20/10/2023: Ntabanyane Tlali, Thabiso Ramollo, Moeketsi Hlauli en Keketso Matshabisa were convicted for Tools' murder. They were each sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Dereck Wille on charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.is/DN542
• https://archive.is/0HCi3
• https://archive.is/bvb1H
• https://archive.is/3eJLw
• https://archive.is/4nmKK
• http://archive.fo/Kh9jy
• http://archive.is/bXBj1
• http://archive.fo/4p9h0
• http://archive.fo/0Zrbz
• https://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Misdaad/skokbesonderhede-oor-hoe-bon...
• https://archive.ph/qMJ9u
• https://archive.ph/3eJLw
• https://archive.ph/Wd8q1

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• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Oct 8 2022, 15:22:01 UTC