'Jesus' suspect lives in fear
2005-12-13 08:25
Cape Town - The man suspected of being the so-called "Jesus" killer of Philippi spoke on Monday about the hell he'd been through since his arrest.
Stanley Martiens, 49, was released last Friday.
Martiens and his family claim he is innocent but for many members of the Philippi community he is branded as the Jesus murderer.
"You'll make me a captain," a police officer told Martiens on the day of his arrest. He was more interested in a higher rank than in arresting an "innocent" man, said Martiens.
The small and slightly built Martiens sat dressed in a neat golf shirt, blue jeans and tackies in his sister's lounge where he told of the day of his arrest up to the day when police released him "without an apology".
At about 10:00 on Thursday December 1 a police task team arrested Martiens in Vanguard Drive near Mitchells Plain for the murders in the past few months in Philippi.
Previous clash with the law
He claims police had already accused him then of being the suspected Jesus murderer, even before he could plead not guilty.
"A policeman pointed his finger at me and said: 'You'll make me a captain'," said Martiens.
He added that another policewoman had said: "It's you."
Martiens appeared in Wynberg magistrate's court on 5 December where he was charged with five counts of rape. After the charge sheet had been read aloud to him, a stupefied Martiens asked twice what he was being charged with.
Martiens had clashed with the law previously. He spent seven years in the Voorberg Prison in Porterville for theft and housebreaking.
The rumours that he'd tried to commit suicide the night before his court appearance are true.
No wrongful arrest
"At that stage I just thought what will be left of my life if I'm convicted of something I didn't do," he said.
What goes through one's mind if you walk with your head inside a pillow-slip in front of people who shout at you: "Crucify him"?
"It was very, very painful and I felt unsafe.
"But I understand the community's feelings about me."
Even the prisoners in jail called me Jesus, Martiens told Die Burger on Monday.
What lies ahead for Stanley Martiens now?
"I just have to put the pieces of my life back together again.
"If it hadn't been for my family, I don't know what would have become of me," a grieving Martiens said.
Police spokesperson Captain Elliot Sinyangana said "a wrongful arrest had not been made".
"The man has been released but may be arrested again if forensic evidence can be linked to him."