This week in True Crime South Africa’s Spotlight minisode we reveal the details behind a 12-year-old cold case that was recently solved through the hard work of a dedicated detective and a slam-dunk DNA match.
The first case I wanted to discuss today is a cold case which was recently solved through the use of DNA. In 2007 the body of 31-year-old Felicity Cilliers was found amongst the vineyards on the farm Longlands, in Stellenbosch.
In August 2018 it was announced that a man called Andrew Jordaan had been linked by DNA to Felicity’s murder. He was arrested. Sergeant Moses, a police officer with a Stellenbosch unit had helped make the connection.
Jordaan was sentenced to life for Felicity’s murder as well as an additional 10 years for her rape. I wanted to share this case with you because it really gives us hope for all the other cold cases out there.
Body part discoveries were another hot topic in true crime news this week with a skull being uncovered at a building site in Rustenburg and police divers scouring Durban harbour for a severed arm.
On Tuesday, the 5th of November a human skull was uncovered at a construction site in Rustenburg. The site is where the multi-billion Rand Rustenburg Shopping Mall is being built.
In other body part news, police divers were sent into Durban harbour on Monday after a report came in from a ship that a severed arm had been seen floating among debris between a cargo ship and the wharf.
We also delve into the kidnapping for ransom cases that have made headlines and exploded on social media recently and discuss whether sharing the details of these cases on social platforms is really helpful or is it doing more harm than good?
I was sent this clip of an interview that Gerard Labuschagne did with Jacaranda FM regarding kidnapping. The interview was in reference to the kidnapping of 6-year-old Amy-Lee De Jager. Amy-Lee was snatched by four masked individuals outside of her school in Vanderbijlpark on the 3rd of September this year. Thankfully she was released by her kidnappers within 48 hours and was reunited with her parents.
Social media exploded with the news of the missing girl. I wondered at that time, how good that type of exposure really is for a case like that. The reason I wondered that is because of the possibility that the kidnappers could fear being caught and end up harming the child to cover their tracks. In this interview Gerard shares a similar view although he distinguishes between two different types of kidnappers and their reactions to viral coverage of their crimes.
SHOWNOTES:
Host: Nicole Engelbrecht
Producer: Nicole Engelbrecht
Music: Snippet from Prime Circle’s Evidence
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