'House of Horrors' left to rot in its past

"Don't you think Gert has dead children here?"

This inscription on the gate of 227 Malherbe Street in Capital Park, Pretoria, is a grim reminder of previous owner Gert van Rooyen who abducted and murdered six girls in the late 1980s.

Today marks 25 years since Van Rooyen shot dead his accomplice girlfriend and himself as police cornered them near the "House of Horrors" in 1990. The police had been alerted by Joan Booysen, 16, who had escaped from the house, where she had been handcuffed, drugged and put in a cupboard.

Now, blue and yellow children's hand prints on the gate of the derelict property act as colourful symbols of the victims not found to this day.

But it is not the property's past that gives neighbours sleepless nights.

In 1996, a bank donated Van Rooyen's house to the police for further investigation. Police started demolishing the house in an attempt to uncover evidence of the missing girls. When they found nothing, the property was abandoned and became an eyesore.

Neighbour Ida Böhmer said they wanted the property sold and developed so that its past remained in the past.

"Must we be forced to remember what happened here? The property would be in great demand because of its close proximity to the [Bus Rapid Transport system] station currently under construction," she said.

Local shop owner Marina Panacodimou - from whom Van Rooyen bought weekend newspapers on his way to church - said: "There are many people interested in buying the property but they walk away at the mention of its past."

The Department of Public Works allocated the property to the SA Police Service for construction of a child protection unit, but spokesman Thami Mchunu said residents had opposed this.

"When [we] started planning a project a few years ago, to build a multistorey halfway house for neglected and abused children the neighbours and the community started a petition to prevent it," he said. The property was being evaluated for other uses.