Seeking justice for soldier's hell death

IT has been more than 18 years since a young soldier was locked up in solitary confinement, tortured, dragged naked across tar and beaten to a pulp.

Private Mornay van Deventer's death certificate simply says the 24-year-old died of "unnatural causes". But witness and pathology reports indicate that the military policeman had endured inhumane treatment at the hands of his guards.

When two soldiers arrived at Van Deventer's Pretoria home on December 28 1994 to arrest him for being awol, his mother's pleas that her son had a valid sick note fell on deaf ears.

"Don't worry, there's a doctor where we're taking him," they told her.

And there was - eventually. Van Deventer died 10 days later, two hours after being admitted to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria and after his heart stopped for the second time in an hour.

The case made headlines and five officers in the then recently formed South African National Defence Force were charged with culpable homicide - only for the case to mysteriously vanish some 14 years ago.

Now the defence force union has decided to get involved.

Willie van Rensburg, chief legal adviser for the South African National Defence Union, said this week: "When this case landed on my desk a year ago, I never thought we would be able to reconstruct the docket and track down witnesses."

He has spent the past eight months poring over old medical records and statements to try to build a case that will finally see charges being reinstated against the officers allegedly responsible for Van Deventer's death.

The 24-year-old had a history of bad health and complained of fatigue and chest pains in the months before his death. It was only afterwards that doctors concluded he had Addison's disease - a rare, chronic disorder caused by the failure of the adrenal glands.

Van Deventer was held at the Boksburg detention barracks and photographs taken after his death reveal the cruelty he endured. He had almost no skin on his buttocks, cuts to his arms and legs and the soles of his feet had been burnt with cigarettes.

Van Rensburg said: "It's clear that they took him to the detention barracks to f**k him up. There is no other way to put it."

Mattheus Cordier, who was held at the same barracks, still has vivid memories of Van Deventer's calls for help.

He recalled that the military policeman was told to remove his clothes because he had soiled them and then dragged across tar on a baking-hot day. The guards prevented Van Deventer from sleeping and threatened to set an attack dog on him.

All the evidence, said Van Rensburg, pointed to the young man being denied help for his already fragile health and being repeatedly attacked.

The case against the five officers disappeared from the court roll about four years after Van Deventer's death.

To this day, no one has been able to explain it.

Van Rensburg, however, has managed to track down hospital notes, Van Deventer's medical records and statements from witnesses.

"I also tracked down the pathologist who did the autopsy and he said to me: 'I've been waiting 18 years for this call,'" he said.

Van Rensburg will now take his file to the police and the National Prosecuting Authority to demand that the charges be reinstated.

Van Deventer's father, Leon, said the family deserved justice. "All we have left of our son is his grave site in Pretoria."

Leon, who served in the army for 34 years, added: "All I want, after all these years, is to know why my son was arrested. Why did they treat him like this? What did he ever do to deserve this?"

Leon said the years of not knowing what happened had taken its toll on his wife. Their four other children also "never got over what happened to Mornay".

"I gave my life to the army and this is the thanks I get. I deserve to know what happened to my son," Leon said.