[imagesource: Facebook/Nadine Terblanche]
Nadine Terblanche and her nine-year-old son Ruandré Vorster were brutally murdered in their home in Randhart, Alberton, in November last year.
Police said at the time that the boyfriend, Freddie Stapelberg, had arrived home to find the gardener inside along with the lifeless bodies of Nadine and Ruandré in the bedroom.
Stapelberg claimed that the gardener attacked him with an axe before he fled. Nadine and her son had been strangled and declared dead on the scene.
Gauteng police confirmed then that the 37-year-old Zimbabwean suspect Pardon Danhire had been arrested and charged with the double murder. However, in a shocking twist, Stapelberg was arrested on Friday as a second suspect.
When Danhire appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of his employer and her nine-year-old son, he said “I will defend myself” as he was not guilty.
Stapelberg expressed how he was “lost and in darkness” after finding his loved ones killed, possibly feigning innocence this whole time while the case against Danhire proceeds in court.
But it turns out, the 34-year-old boyfriend may have been the killer all along:
Freddie Stapelberg (34), has been arrested and will be appearing in court tomorrow in connection with the murder of Nadine Terblanche (34) and Ruandré Vorster (9). Stapelberg was Nadine’s boyfriend.
Pardon Danhire (37), who worked as a gardener, was arrested on the day of the… https://t.co/aKNLCsSoQU pic.twitter.com/ygCzf4CHGJ
— Bianca van Wyk (@BiancavanWyk16) January 14, 2024
Although details about the police’s evidence against Stapelberg are still sketchy, as authorities are refusing to reveal much about what they have, per Swisher Post, police may have uncovered further incriminating evidence that not only pokes holes in the boyfriend’s alibi but places him at the scene of the double murder as an alleged perpetrator.
Stapelberg’s whereabouts on the night of the Langenhoven Street double murder came under the spotlight after Danhire abandoned his bail and recruited the services of a lawyer, who reliably informed authorities to look closer at the boyfriend.
According to Stapelberg, he last spoke to Terblanche on that fateful afternoon, as, from what has been revealed, they were all preparing for Ruandré’s prize-giving ceremony taking place at Laerskool Randhart Amptelik later that evening. Coincidentally, Nadine’s toddler daughter, whom she shared with Stapelberg, was not at home when she and Ruandré were killed that evening.
While the motive remains unknown in Nadine’s murder, an insider made startling revelations about Terblanche’s fears before she died, which alongside Nadine’s last Facebook posts before she was killed, suggests that there was trouble on the home front.
Highlighted those “whose spouse has become cold,” Nadine, using a meme, wrote, “Here, ek is moeg (I am tired).”
Swisher Post also revealed a source close to the situation had vehemently cast doubt on Danhire’s culpability in killing Nadine and her son over rumoured payment disparities:
“I know for a fact that’s not true. They had no problem with money. They had no problem with paying their people. They never had a problem with any of that. Like I said, I know that this guy (the gardener) has been with them for years,” the source said.
In fact, according to the insider, who vehemently stressed that we protect her identity for her own safety, Danhire had practically watched Nadine’s kids “grow up in front of him.”
“So, it’s not that they didn’t pay him. If it was him, there must’ve been another reason, but financial, definitely not,” the source said.
Stapelberg will make his first court appearance in Alberton today, January 15.
When all of this was initially unfolding, a devastating Tweet was sent out accusing the gardener of hacking the pair to death, which merely fuelled the fire that rages around racially motivated crimes in South Africa:
End Wokeness has deleted their post and will hopefully update their followers on progress regarding this story. pic.twitter.com/s87GvEze8M
— Bianca van Wyk (@BiancavanWyk16) January 14, 2024
The injustice is clear now, but it is unlikely that – when proven innocent once and for all – Danhire will have the resources or status to perform adequate damage control and move on with his life.
That’s three lives wasted.
[source:swisherpost&
