Gert van Rooyen
Encyclopedia
Cornelius Gerhardus van Rooyen ('Gert' "Bokkie" van Rooyen) was an alleged South Africa
n paedophile and serial killer
(although never convicted) who, together with his female partner Joey Haarhof, abducted and apparently murdered at least six young girls between 1988 and 1989. Their victims were never found as the pair, it was said, apparently, committed suicide when faced with arrest after the escape of their last kidnap victim.
to Pretoria
to visit his dying mother , followed by imprisonment in 1960 for stealing motor spares and clothing.
He married and subsequently fathered six children: Anne Marie, Judith, Hannes, Flippie, Gerhard and Adriaan. He ran a building construction business together with his brothers.
In 1979, Gert van Rooyen abducted two girls aged 10 and 13, taking them to the Hartbeespoort Dam
near Pretoria
, where he punched them in the face to force them to strip naked and perform sexual acts. Van Rooyen released the girls in Pretoria the following day. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment for abduction, sexual assault and common assault of the girls, serving three years before being released.
In August 1983, Van Rooyen and his wife Aletta divorced. In 1988, he started dating divorcee Francina Johanna ("Joey") Hermina Haarhoff. The couple holidayed together at Warmbaths and Umdloti, on the KwaZulu Natal coast.
spent the Christmas holidays with the couple.
All the above disappearances, with the exception of Rosa Piel, were linked by witness statements or forensic evidence to Van Rooyen and Haarhof following their deaths. For example, Odette's Boucher's home address, phone number (that was written on a piece of paper and hidden under a carpet in the garage) and class captain's badge and yellow PT bag as well as Anne-Mari's address and home keys as well as the envelopes and paper that they wrote to their parents were found in his home. None of the Van Rooyen's victims were ever found, despite extensive police searches of his business premises and house (dubbed the "The House of Horrors" by the press).
In 1996, Absa Bank
donated Van Rooyen's former house to the police to allow the girls' disappearance to be investigated further. On 13 May 1996, police systematically demolished the house in a search for new forensic evidence that might provide clues to the girls' fate. The roof was removed and vacuumed for traces of human hair and nails, then the walls demolished and the kitchen and main bedroom scanned with sonar equipment for cavities. The soil in the garden was sifted and some bones found, but forensic pathologists identified these as non-human.
In February 2001, Flippie van Rooyen, Gert van Rooyen's "son", was found guilty of perjury
in the Pretoria
Magistrate's Court. He was charged with three counts of perjury after giving police conflicting statements under oath relating to the six missing schoolgirls. Flippie was then already in jail (a death sentence which had been commuted to life imprisonment) for the murder of a 15-year-old Zimbabwean girl. He was paroled in 2008. Another son, Gerhard, is served 15 years in prison for theft and fraud.
On 12 March 2007, renewed interest in the case occurred after a set of adolescent bones was found on the beach near Umdloti, Kwazulu-Natal
about 500m away from a holiday resort that Van Rooyen and Haarhoff are known to have visited. Subsequent DNA
testing did not identify any of the Van Rooyen victims.
Significant public attention has been brought to bear on the case recently by the investigative television series, Carte Blanche
which controversially dedicated a recent episode to the mystery.
In November 2007, bones were discovered in a property adjacent to Van Rooyen's house in Pretoria
whilst ground was being dug up to install a swimming pool. Local authorities were alerted, and investigations are underway to determine if the bones are human, and of the missing girls.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n paedophile and serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
(although never convicted) who, together with his female partner Joey Haarhof, abducted and apparently murdered at least six young girls between 1988 and 1989. Their victims were never found as the pair, it was said, apparently, committed suicide when faced with arrest after the escape of their last kidnap victim.
Criminal history
Van Rooyen's first crimes were theft, for which he was sent to a reform school in 1954 for stealing a car which was used as transport from Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
to Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
to visit his dying mother , followed by imprisonment in 1960 for stealing motor spares and clothing.
He married and subsequently fathered six children: Anne Marie, Judith, Hannes, Flippie, Gerhard and Adriaan. He ran a building construction business together with his brothers.
In 1979, Gert van Rooyen abducted two girls aged 10 and 13, taking them to the Hartbeespoort Dam
Hartbeespoort Dam
Hartbeespoort Dam also known as Harties is a dam situated in the North West Province of South Africa . It lies in a valley to the south of the Magaliesberg mountain range and north of the Witwatersberg mountain range, about 35 kilometres west of Pretoria...
near Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, where he punched them in the face to force them to strip naked and perform sexual acts. Van Rooyen released the girls in Pretoria the following day. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment for abduction, sexual assault and common assault of the girls, serving three years before being released.
In August 1983, Van Rooyen and his wife Aletta divorced. In 1988, he started dating divorcee Francina Johanna ("Joey") Hermina Haarhoff. The couple holidayed together at Warmbaths and Umdloti, on the KwaZulu Natal coast.
Possible victims
Van Rooyen was thought to use Haarhoff to lure young girls for him. Children's homes reported that she telephoned requesting to bring girls home for the holidays and weekends. The couple applied to foster children, but the application was turned down. At the end of 1989, a 14 year old girl from an orphanage in the Orange Free StateOrange Free State
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
spent the Christmas holidays with the couple.
- On 1 August 1988, fourteen-year old Tracy-Lee Scott-Crossley of Randburg near JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
disappeared. She was seen by witnesses climbing into a VW Beetle outside the CrestaCresta, GautengCresta is a suburb of Randburg, South Africa, situated near the border of Johannesburg.Although it is mostly a residential area, in the middle is Cresta Shopping Centre....
shopping mall. Her brother, who had declined an offer to go with her, was severely guilt-ridden and traumatized by her disappearance. In later life he was found guilty of the murder of a farm worker and convicted.
- On 22 December 1988, twelve-year old Fiona Harvey of PietermaritzburgPietermaritzburgPietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality...
disappeared. A white Ford 'Bantam' pickup used in her abduction with an advertisement for Van Rooyen's building-contracting business on it would later link him to this crime.
- On 7 June 1989, twelve-year old Joan Horn of PretoriaPretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
disappeared.
- In July 1989, sixteen-year old Janet Delport of DurbanDurbanDurban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
disappeared after being abducted in a shopping mall by a blonde woman. She was later found wandering around distressed, but unharmed.
- Some weeks later, nine-year old Rosa Piel of AlbertonAlberton, GautengAlberton is a town situated on the East Rand of the Gauteng Province in South Africa which celebrated its centenary year in 2005. it had a population of 202,202 inhabitants. It is known as a typical bedroom community, a community primarily residential in character, with most of its workers...
disappeared.
- On 22 September 1989, eleven-year old Odette Boucher of Kempton ParkKempton Park, GautengKempton Park is a city on the East Rand in the Gauteng province, South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality in the Transvaal, Kempton Park no longer has its own municipal government, and has been part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since 2000...
with twelve-year old Anne-Mari Wapenaar, also from Kempton Park. They were taken together.
- On 29 September 1989, Kobie Wapenaar, Anne-Mari's mother, received a letter from her daughter claiming that she and Odette had run away to Durban with some boys. Odette's letter arrived a week after Anne-Mari's ― although it was posted on the same day, 23 September 1989, in Durban. It is suspected the letter was written under duress.
- On 3 November 1989, Yolanda Wessels, the thirteen-year old niece of Van Rooyen's partner Joey Haarhof, disappeared.
- On 11 January 1990, sixteen-year old Joan Booysen of PretoriaPretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
was abducted by Haarhoff in Church Square, PretoriaChurch Square, PretoriaChurch Square or Kerkplein , is the historic centre of the city of Pretoria, South Africa.Its most prominent feature is the statue of the Boer leader and president of the South African Republic Paul Kruger at its centre...
. She was taken to Van Rooyen's home in Malherbe Street, Capital Park (25°43′43.5"S 28°11′24"E) where she was handcuffed, drugged and sexually assaulted before being locked in a cupboard. It is likely that Van Rooyen thought the small girl was younger than she was. She managed to escape and alert the police who placed the home under surveillance, and four days later, identified Van Rooyen when he drove past his house in a white Ford pickup that matched the description of a vehicle used in one of the abductions. Van Rooyen shot Haarhoff with a .22 revolver and himself with a high powered .357 revolver.
All the above disappearances, with the exception of Rosa Piel, were linked by witness statements or forensic evidence to Van Rooyen and Haarhof following their deaths. For example, Odette's Boucher's home address, phone number (that was written on a piece of paper and hidden under a carpet in the garage) and class captain's badge and yellow PT bag as well as Anne-Mari's address and home keys as well as the envelopes and paper that they wrote to their parents were found in his home. None of the Van Rooyen's victims were ever found, despite extensive police searches of his business premises and house (dubbed the "The House of Horrors" by the press).
In 1996, Absa Bank
Absa Group Limited
The Absa Group Limited is the largest consumer bank in South Africa.- Overview :Absa is based in Johannesburg and listed on the JSE Limited and is one of South Africa's largest financial institutions...
donated Van Rooyen's former house to the police to allow the girls' disappearance to be investigated further. On 13 May 1996, police systematically demolished the house in a search for new forensic evidence that might provide clues to the girls' fate. The roof was removed and vacuumed for traces of human hair and nails, then the walls demolished and the kitchen and main bedroom scanned with sonar equipment for cavities. The soil in the garden was sifted and some bones found, but forensic pathologists identified these as non-human.
In February 2001, Flippie van Rooyen, Gert van Rooyen's "son", was found guilty of perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
in the Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
Magistrate's Court. He was charged with three counts of perjury after giving police conflicting statements under oath relating to the six missing schoolgirls. Flippie was then already in jail (a death sentence which had been commuted to life imprisonment) for the murder of a 15-year-old Zimbabwean girl. He was paroled in 2008. Another son, Gerhard, is served 15 years in prison for theft and fraud.
On 12 March 2007, renewed interest in the case occurred after a set of adolescent bones was found on the beach near Umdloti, Kwazulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
about 500m away from a holiday resort that Van Rooyen and Haarhoff are known to have visited. Subsequent DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
testing did not identify any of the Van Rooyen victims.
Significant public attention has been brought to bear on the case recently by the investigative television series, Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche (TV series)
Carte Blanche, produced by Combined Artists, is the flagship magazine and actuality programme on M-Net, a pay-TV channel broadcasting in Southern Africa. Carte Blanche was launched in 1989 and broadcasts during prime time viewing on Sunday evenings....
which controversially dedicated a recent episode to the mystery.
In November 2007, bones were discovered in a property adjacent to Van Rooyen's house in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
whilst ground was being dug up to install a swimming pool. Local authorities were alerted, and investigations are underway to determine if the bones are human, and of the missing girls.