Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Former South African Air Force sergeant, Flippie Venter, who was sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Burundi teenager while serving in the central African country, is appealing his conviction and sentence.

Venter (35) was a VIP protector in Burundi when he killed Therese Ndishimane (14).

He was also found guilty in a Thaba Tshwane Military Court of assaulting a Burundi security guard and convicted on a charge of non-attendance under the Military Act as he did not report back to his base before a curfew.

Venter is currently serving an 18-year sentence at the Barberton correctional services facility for the murder of his children, Janco (4) and Millize (5), and the attempted murder of his wife, Millie (34). The murders took place while the military trial was under way

Jenny Brewis, who is representing Venter, said the burden of proof to convict Venter was not there.

“There are glaring errors in the State’s case and we need you to look beyond to see these,” she told Transvaal Judge President, Justice Bernard Ngoepe.

Ngoepe along with judges Francis Legodi and ML Mailula are hearing Venter’s appeal for his conviction to be overturned.

His appeal is part of an automatic review under military law.

Brewis said even if the case had not gone through a review they would have appealed.

She said they were arguing that there was a gross oversight by the State in its case which had led to a breach of Venter’s constitutional rights. “This oversight is the admission by a military policeman in which he says he broke the law by following incorrect procedures during the pointing out of the crime scene and his failure to advise Venter on his constitutional rights.”

The failure to advise Venter on his rights apparently include not being advised of his right to remain silent and that he did not have to provide a statement which would incriminate him.

His alleged confession was used by the State to convict him of the murder when the court found that Venter’s admission to two SANDF officers that he had strangled Therese that night after she refused to have sex with him was admissible.

Brewis said her client was adamant that he never confessed to the murder. “We still do not know how (Therese) died as there was no forensic evidence.

“This, coupled with the failure to advise Venter on his constitutional rights, is a complete failure of justice,” she said, adding that she was extremely bothered by the absence of forensic evidence.

She said their argument was that Venter was never warned properly of his rights as a suspect or that he was a suspect.

Contesting that the correct procedures had been followed by the military police, prosecutor Lieutenant-Colonel Tinus Kleyn, said one had to look at all the evidence, including the circumstantial evidence.

“I could not establish from forensic evidence that Therese had died from strangulation, which is why I had to look at the circumstantial evidence and his admission.

“All the circumstantial evidence, coupled with the pointing out, is sufficient proof and shows that Venter was the one responsible for Therese’s murder,” he said.

Judgement has been reserved.