Despite two warrants of arrest out for him after he skipped court appearances, Seabata Clementi Kholoane was released on warning by the Mossel Bay magistrate’s court after he was arrested for allegedly stealing a laptop.
Three days later, he is believed to have murdered a pensioner in her home on the exclusive golfing estate Pinnacle Point in Mossel Bay, Western Cape.
Kholoane, 40, from Lesotho, who was working without a permit, is now on the run.
Marietha Willemse, 79, was stabbed to death and her husband Johannes, 86, badly injured in the attack on June 3.
Fingerprints found at the scene match those of Kholoane, according to a police source.
Authorities have confirmed that Kholoane, who did maintenance work at the golf estate, is also wanted for a 2012 robbery in Bloemfontein and a 2020 Eastern Cape theft case.
In both cases, he was released on warning and absconded, prompting warrants to be issued for his arrest.
Willemse’s daughter Mia Heuer is furious.
“How could they release him after arresting him for the stolen laptop? Kholoane is an undocumented foreigner and police investigators told us he is a wanted fugitive. If they hadn’t released him, my mother would still be alive.”
Heuer, who lives next door to her parents at Pinnacle Point, was away on honeymoon when the attack happened on May 31.
She said her father was struggling after the incident.
“He is now in a dementia facility in George. He can’t sleep, and when he does he has nightmares. He says when he closes his eyes he hears the stabbings.”
In a double blow to the case, police have launched an internal departmental investigation after a bloody knife — believed to be the murder weapon — was discovered in the couple’s Audi a month later at a car dealership which Heuer had asked to sell the car.
Heuer said after the murder, the family had handed the house over to the police forensics unit.
“They had the house and my parents’ Audi for four and a half days. After they were finished we hired a professional crime scene cleaning company to clear the house,” she said. “The cleaning company found a bloody crowbar, suspected to have been used to gain access. How police forensics missed this I wouldn’t know.
“We decided to sell my parents’ car and contacted Audi. They fetched the vehicle with a flatbed truck and later moved it to Pretoria. Just more than a month after the murder Audi told us they found a plastic bag between the seats containing a bloody knife.”
Western Cape police spokesperson Capt Malcolm Pojie confirmed Kholoane had been arrested on May 25 for the stolen laptop then released on warning so further investigation could take place.
“They say the knife — suspected to be the murder weapon — that was found by an Audi dealer forms part of a departmental internal investigation into the handling of the crime scene,” he said.
Pojie did not respond to question about the crowbar.
Western Cape NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila told TimesLIVE Premium he could not comment on why Kholoane had been released on warning for the stolen laptop as “the person who made the decision has been booked off sick and will return to office on Wednesday”.
“I will be able to send you something meaningful only then,” Ntabazalila said. On Wednesday he said the prosecutor was not back at work.
Eastern Cape NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali confirmed Kholoane was arrested in 2021, along with a SA co-accused, on a theft charge.
“The court eventually released them on warning, as they could not afford the R500 bail. One of the conditions was that he was not allowed to leave SA. On January 20 2021 they absconded from attending the trial and warrants for their arrest were issued,” Tyali said.
Free State police spokesperson Lt-Col Thabo Covane told TimesLIVE Premium they had been searching for Kholoane since 2013.
“A case of business robbery was opened at the Mangaung police station. According to the [police] report, on July 26 2012 about 4pm four males accosted a 26-year-old man and robbed him of undisclosed amount of money, airtime, cigarettes and two cellphones.
“They assaulted him with an iron rod and stabbed him in the arm. Four suspects, including Kholoane, were arrested. The suspects were released at court for further investigation. A warrant of arrest was issued for Kholoane on November 11 2013.”
The CEO of the maintenance company where Kholoane worked, who spoke to TimesLIVE Premium on condition that he not be named, said they were initially under the impression that Kholoane’s paperwork was in order.
“The suspect was a casual labourer for nine months. He had previously worked on a farm outside Mossel Bay for about two years with our current manager, who at that time said he saw his work permit.
“He completed a personal detail form and was asked to submit his work permit to our head office on numerous occasions. We, however, paid him in good faith for services rendered.”
He said that on May 23, his laptop had been stolen from his property at Pinnacle Point.
“Agents of Lockup, the company that manages the security of our laptops, were dispersed and Kholoane was questioned and admitted to taking the laptop.
“His service was terminated on May 31. We were surprised to learn that he was just released on warning after being arrested for the theft.
“On the night of the murder, my property was again broken into, as well as another house belonging to our company on the estate.”
He said CCTV cameras showed the intruder to be Kholoane. There was also a “blood trail” to the Willemse house, he said.
Pinnacle Point general manager Carl van der Linde confirmed the break-ins and the murder.
“The suspect was arrested for the stolen laptop and later released on a warning,” Van der Linde said.
