Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The family of the murdered and raped Burundi teenager were specially flown to Pretoria by the South African National Defence Force to hear the judgment in the court martial against a South African Air Force sergeant.

But the climax in this internationally high profile case failed to materialise yesterday.

The matter had to be rolled to tomorrow as there was a “problem” with the appointment of the presiding judge of a bench of three military judges.

Colonel Johan Crouse, who has been the presiding judge since this case started in Bujumbura, Burundi, in March 2006, retired recently. Although he is apparently still a military judge, he has to be appointed to the SANDF’s Reserve Force before he can continue to preside in this matter.

It appears that the SANDF has not completed this formality yet.

Yesterday, accused Flippie Venter (34) arrived at the Thaba Tshwane military court from the Nelspruit prison where he is serving a 10-year sentence for killing his two children and shooting his wife.

The family of the victim, 14-year-old Therese Nkeshimana, arrived at the court in a minibus, but were told that the judgment would not be given and and they promptly left.

It is believed that arrangements have been made to allow them to remain in South Africa until tomorrow.

Venter earlier pleaded not guilty to a charge that he had raped and strangled Therese on the night of September 19/20 2004 while he was working as a VIP protector in Burundi.

Apparently Venter also assaulted a hotel security guard that night after the complainant refused to give him and the girl a room. Venter then allegedly tried to bribe taxi driver Claude Damacene who was the last to see Venter and the girl.

There is also a charge of non-attendance under the Military Act against Venter as he apparently did not report back to his base before the curfew.

The trial was originally held in Bujumbura as part of an agreement between South Africa and Burundi, the African Union and the United Nations, so that Nkeshimana’s relatives could attend and see justice being done.

During the trial in Burundi, Venter’s wife Millie supported him.

However, soon after their return to their home at the Hoedspruit Military Base, Venter apparently had a mental breakdown in April 2006 and killed his two children with a R4-assault rifle and injured his wife.

He pleaded guilty in the Nelspruit high court and was sentenced to 10 years in jail.