Missing man's card transactions expose alleged serial killer

A missing person case turned into one of murder after a UK family who reported Harkandi Nathvani missing, notified police that transactions were still being made with his card.

This ultimately led police to Nathvani's body and uncovered the murder of two other victims.

Zaheera Boomgaard is currently on trial at the Pretoria high court facing three charges of murder, two of robbery with aggravating circumstances and more than 50 of fraud and theft.

On Friday, Warrant Officer Kevendren Govender continued with his evidence on how his search for Nathvani led him to the accused.

Govender, who is attached to the forensic division of the police and was tasked with finding Nathvani, told the court the video footage from the accused's complex revealed strange movements.

Nathvani allegedly met Boomgaard through Facebook while he was living with a woman in KwaZulu-Natal whom he had met through internet dating

It was during this period that he allegedly made contact with Boomgaard on Facebook who convinced him to travel from KwaZulu-Natal to Johannesburg.

During this time, his family opened a missing person's case.

According to the indictment, after staying with the accused for some time in Albertville Nathvani was killed by Boomgaard.

“She then took charge of his cellular phone and bank cards.”

After Govender told the court he used the trail of the transactions to track down Boomgaard whom he finally traced to her residential address in a housing complex in Randburg. He conducted a search at her house but found nothing.

He questioned her and later realised her stories were inconsistent.

“Her version was inconsistent,  they didn't make sense to me. Initially, she said she was doing a friend of hers a favour by housing this gentleman. He was unhappy in Newcastle and wanted to come to Gauteng but didn't have a place to stay. She didn't really know him but helped him. Then she told me that this guy was a sickly guy and the level of his hygiene and cleanliness wasn't very good so she asked him to leave.”

Govender said upon further questioning, she said she had been conversing with him on WhatsApp since last year.

Boomgaard gave excuses when told to call him, stating he had both international and local numbers.

He said upon questioning her about the bank card she indicated she had given it back and used it with his permission.

She further indicated that Nathvani couldn't walk properly and it was a problem for him to jump into the car, so she used to go and buy groceries and whatever he needed for him.

“Then I realised that her stories are inconsistent and every time you ask further you get different versions of stories,” he said.

After informing her he was taking her into the police station he discovered she had two identity documents.

This as she called her legal company and gave them two different ID numbers as she was trying to confirm her policy.

“I did take notice that she had two different ID books — same names, different ID numbers. She also had a passport, it had the same name, different surname. All these raised my suspicions that there is more that she knows,” Govender said.

Govender had told the court that he found people's documents, wills and title deeds when he searched her vehicle.

“One has a police stamp and the other one doesn't — the second will, which was an exact copy but without a stamp,” he said.

He noticed that the signature on the will seemed to be pasted and was not original.

Govender said she mentioned she was going to take those documents to be certified.

“That story didn't make sense.”

He said when she was detained, he seized her two phones, and the two identity documents.

“Strangely upon detaining her she was searched and they found a sum of about R19,000 on her. I found it strange why you come to the police station with such an amount of money. We took you from your house you should have left it at home,” he said.

Using footage from the camera at the complex positioned at the entry and exit, Govender then tracked the woman's movements, studying the footage and times.

He told the court he noticed something strange.

“I was able to start from March 2020. I was unable to find the day that he arrived at the complex,” he said.

He said when examining the footage he noticed something strange on March 10 2020.

“There was a lot of activity that was noted. There were six exits and entries throughout the day.”

Govender said he noticed she first left the complex at 6:03am and made many other entries and exits throughout the day with the last entry being on the following day at about 1am.

He told the court he had noticed in some instances she left the complex with a passenger who fitted the description of Nithvani and a shirt that matched that of the picture he had of the missing person. 

The state also accused Boomgaard of manipulating the last will of one of her victims, Lynette Mustapha, to inherit her estate.

Govender told the court on Friday that he traced the executor listed in the will of Tony Mustapha, the brother of Lynette, that he found on Boomgaard when searching her car.

This is when he connected the dots to the other murders. 

“I traced the executor listed on the will upon interviewing him and he was rather shocked that this document existed. He said the deceased in the will is very known to him and he was Ill and had mentioned that he should get the will and before he could get it done he passed on,” he said.

He said they only made the connection to the Mustapha family after they identified the body of Lynette Mustapha.

This also led him to believe that the will was fraudulent.

Govender said he came across a report on an unidentified body that had been found and further investigations revealed that it was that of Lynette Mustapha.

Further investigation at her house revealed a document from the bank which had a cut-out signature.

Nathvani's body was discovered in a field in Sebokeng on March 11 2020. However, the body was only identified almost five months later.

His body was dumped in a veld in the De Deur area.

It was set alight and still burning when it was found.

This was after the discovery of the body of Mustapha,who was another of Boomgaard's alleged victims.

Boomgaard is also accused of murdering John Naisby, 83, in Cape Town in 2012.

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