Body found in shallow grave

2004-10-31 10:41

Herman Jansen

Johannesburg - The mummified remains of a businessman, who disappeared eight years ago, was found in a shallow grave in the backyard of a Brixton semi-detached house on Wednesday.

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Alec Steenkamp, then 34, was unravelled within a month by East London private detective Christian Botha's brilliant investigating.

Steenkamp's daughter, Samantha, 30, who has a top position with the UN in Kabul, Afghanistan, hired the services of Botha.

She could never find peace about her father's disappearance. Rumours that he "ran away", forsaking his family for a new life, turned her life into a living hell.

Botha called her in Kabul on Wednesday with the news: "I have found your father."

She told Rapport on Saturday: "My stepmother and I were at the time described as neurotic, 'crazy' women. We kept telling them the body was buried in the garden, but police didn't want to believe us."

Black shoe

Rapport on Wednesday witnessed how a police dog indicated the place where Steenkamp's body was buried. The fist sign, a black shoe, was found buried under only 30cm of soil and the dog found it after barely five minutes of digging.

The body was found a metre deep under concrete tiles.

The grisly find has given rise to many questions - also by the head of the Johannesburg detective unit - about the apparently shoddy investigation done by the Brixton detective unit at the time.

The investigating officers knew from the start that Steenkamp had fetched money from Kenneth Downey at the house in Putney Street on September 16 1996. Downey was a business acquaintance of Steenkamp's brother.

Downey at the time told police that Steenkamp was there, but that he had left shortly afterwards with $10 000 (then worth about R45 000).

Steenkamp's car was found in the parking lot of a nearby hotel a month later.

Downey, now 43, apparently worked as a police informant at the time of Steenkamp's disappearance.

Faked his own death

In January 1997, three month's after Steenkamp's disappearance, Downey faked his own death.

A charred body was found next to a burnt-out vehicle in Brixton, and Downey's Bulgarian-born wife (Zaharine, now 30) identified the body as her husband's.

She received R1.13m insurance money.

A few months later, the couple was arrested in Sea Point in Cape Town. Both got lengthy prison sentences for fraud. But the State failed to prove they had murdered a homeless man.

The couple was released on parole about two years ago.

Since Wednesday, an investigating team under Director Charles Johnson, area commissioner of the Johannesburg detective unit, have been trying to interview the Downeys about the gruesome find in the garden of their previous home.

The Downeys are apparently travelling in a blue Nissan Skyline.

While investigating the crime in Brixton, Botha heard shocking allegations.

'Buried in shallow grave'

The Downeys' domestic worker, who also worked for someone else, apparently told a neighbour at the time how Downey buried Steenkamp's body in a shallow grave next to her room.

She allegedly also saw "white policemen" driving away from the Putney Street home in Steenkamp's car.

The worker was allegedly threatened with death if she said anything.

The neighbour gave an anonymous tip-off to a local newspaper about these allegations, which in turn informed the Brixton detective unit.

Johnson told Rapport: "The investigating officer, Captain Anthony Maree, apparently failed to get a search warrant from a magistrate."

Maree and three other officers worked on the Steenkamp case at different times.

Johnson said all three were later transferred to the Brixton murder and robbery squad, and have since left the police service.

He said it seemed as if the investigation was not properly done at the time.

"Even a layperson would expect an in-depth investigation at the last place Steenkamp was seen.

He said the SAPS undertook to find out exactly what had happened.

"We owe the Steenkamp family that much after their drawn-out sadness.

"If negligence is proved, we will take very serious measures."

- Rapport