Norman Petrus Watermeyer

Norman Watermeyer (1980 - 2020)

Brief overview:

Norman (28), a disabled man suffering from scoliosis of the spine, was murdered by serial killer Tommy Williams, on 5th February 2008. Norman was strangled to death and burnt. Williams knew Norman personally.

Detective Inspector Fernando Luis went through 21-year-old police case files in order to put behind bars South Africa's longest-active serial killer.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Street/Suburb
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • Williams also murdered Thabang Bihi (11) in 2004, and raped and murdered Martha Botha (8) in 1987, both of whom Williams was also acquainted.

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 10th November 2009 the Kimberley High Court sentenced Tommy Williams (then 39) to two life sentences plus 10 years for the three murders. In effect Williams will spend the next 64 years of his life in jail.
  • "Williams showed no remorse when Judge Steven Majiedt handed down the sentence, instead inviting journalists to visit him in prison today, indicating that he would kill himself."

Extract from Court Hearing.

South Africa: High Court, Northern Cape Division, Kimberley

Williams v S (KS 18/09) [2009] ZANCHC 74 (27 November 2009)

THE STATE versus TOMMY WILLIAMS ACCUSED

Prof. Labuschagne is clearly an expert in his field. He is a forensic psychologist and heads the investigative psychology unit of the SAPS at its head office in Pretoria. He compiled a comparison report between the three murders as aforementioned. He had regard only to the modus operandii and surrounding circumstances of the three murders. His objective was to determine whether these three murders could have been committed by one person and not whether the accused before Court is the perpetrator in all or any of them. He convincingly testified that there were three unique similarities between the three murders namely: That all three victims were vulnerable, i.e. the deceased Martha Botha was only 8 years old, Thabang Bihi was a 13-year old boy and Norman Watermeyer was sickly in that he suffered from scoliosis of the spine and had a weakened right arm.

That there had in all three cases been post mortem tampering with the bodies, i.e. in the first two instances (the Botha and Bihi-cases) the suspect had covered the bodies with grass and branches respectively and in the third instance (the 2008 incident relating to Norman Watermeyer), the deceased appeared to have been partially burnt.

The cause of death in the first and last cases was strangulation and in the second instance (the 2004 matter relating to Thabang Bihi) the cause of death could not be determined due to advanced decomposition, however the fact that a shoelace was found in the vicinity of the deceased’s neck was of particular significance. His conclusion was that it was probable that the three murders had been committed by one person, although he could not state so beyond reasonable doubt.

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/diamond-fields-advertiser/...
• https://archive.is/7ELN5 (Court Judgement)
• https://archive.is/yMmlU
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Williams_(serial_killer)