Camp owner accused of beating teen to death testifies

25 July 2014 - 11:38 By Roxanne Henderson
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Alex de Koker, the Vereeniging man accused of beating teenager Raymond Buys to death, claims the "problem child" mutilated himself.

Testifying for the first time during his trial at the Vereeniging Regional Court yesterday, De Koker said that the 15-year-old refused to eat properly, often soiled himself and exhibited other “abnormal” behaviour.

Buys was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on March 24 2011 after spending time at De Koker's game ranger training centre, Echo Wild Game Rangers, where he sustained severe injuries to his head, hands and feet, among others. A brain-dead Buys died on April 20 2011.

Together with his employee Michael Erasmus, De Koker is facing five charges, including murder; assault; and child abuse and neglect. They have pleaded not guilty.

In January 2011 Buys had been sent to the training centre by his parents, who hoped their difficult child would benefit from time at the centre, which offered military-style training to troubled youth. His parents paid De Koker R20 000 for the training and he is believed to have promised Buys a job once he finished three months of training.

Yesterday De Koker, who described the training he offered as “experimental”, read transcripts of recorded conversations between him and Buys to the court.

"Stop hurting yourself. Stop damaging yourself," De Koker allegedly told the boy in a recorded conversation, painting himself as a strict but caring disciplinarian. 

De Koker said that he made the recordings to create a profile of Buys' behaviour to show his parents.

But, in February De Koker's son, Anthony van Niekerk, painted a different picture to the one presented by his father - a testimony De Koker rubbished as "blatant lies" yesterday.

De Koker broke down during proceedings, saying his son had testified against him because he “hated him”. He said his son's mother died when the boy was young and, as a young and reckless man, he lost custody of the boy. De Koker claims that the boy's guardians influenced him against him.

Outside of court, Buys’ mother Wilna said that she believed the recordings De Koker read in court were staged.

De Koker also said that he never took Buys to the doctor while in his care, but admitted that he had been given medical aid details by the boy's mother. He said that Buys did not want to go to the doctor and fought against it.

Erasmus’s lawyer is set to cross-examine De Koker today, followed by the state.

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