'Mafia killed millionairess'
2003-03-03 08:48
Johannesburg - The mafia-style death of a former general's millionaire daughter is shrouded in mystery - her decomposed body was found in dense vegetation on a game farm near Rustenburg in North West about 4:00 on Sunday morning.
Neither friends nor relatives had made inquiries about Tertia Steenkamp, 42, who was kidnapped from her luxury home in Lyttelton, Centurion, on January 19. She was viciously assaulted and her neck was broken.
Police were alerted to the crime only on February 8 when two men were arrested in Port Elizabeth in connection with two robberies.
Attempts to contact Steenkamp's brother had been unsuccessful, said Pretoria murder and robbery squad chief Senior Superintendent Rudi van Olst on Sunday.
He confirmed that a young, Afrikaans-speaking man had been arrested early on Sunday morning in Gauteng in connection with the murder.
He is being questioned and is expected to appear in Pretoria magistrate's court on Tuesday.
Found guns in stolen vehicle
Van Olst said the murder inquiry, involving an alleged high-ranking member of the Portuguese mafia, stretches across three provinces.
The possibly of the murder being linked to another sensational one is under investigation.
The initial breakthrough was made last month in the Eastern Cape when mafia member José Mendez, 33, and a Nigerian were arrested.
Port Elizabeth murder unit chief Captain Mark Cresswell said they found evidence of trails to the murder when they discovered two unlicenced guns and ammunition in a stolen vehicle.
The vehicle was traced to a Steenkamp in Pretoria. Police found knocked-over furniture, and blood smears on the walls of her luxury home, indicating there had been a struggle.
Mendez was charged with kidnapping, but since no body had been found, he was not charged with murder.
He shed more light on the murder in Humewood police cells, Port Elizabeth, on Sunday after he and his lawyer, Danie Gouws, had searched in a helicopter for the body for practically the entire Saturday in Rustenburg.
Mendez claims he can still hear Steenkamp screaming and pleading for her life, while calling to the Lord in her dying moments - "and the hairs on my neck stood on end".
Witness-protection programme
Gouws said Mendez offered to take the investigating unit to the body in an effort "to prove his innocence and lead police to the real murderer".
"The identification and events resulting from it will be offered as evidence in court if my client is allowed to turn State witness."
Mendez, who fears for his life, will enter the State witness protection programme. In an emotional interview, he said he was a member of an exclusive group of Portuguese dealers who made a living from crime.
They traded in illicit diamonds, gold, hijacked cars and trucks and their contents.
Steenkamp, whose parents are both dead, inherited millions from them and Mendez befriended her.
He alleges high-ranking mafia members had approached him to kidnap en murder her for her money.
He reportedly hired the Afrikaans-speaking man, who was arrested on Saturday, to do his dirty work for R3 000.
Mendez says he never touched Steenkamp, but could only stand by in horror as she was killed and pleaded desperately with him to help her.
He spent the following four days in a drug daze and later travelled to Port Elizabeth in Steenkamp's vehicle with a Nigerian friend.
He is charged with kidnapping, murder, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and car theft.
His bail application is expected to continue on March 6.