Cape Town | Wednesday
BALLROOM and Latin dance instructor John Thebus denied having anything to do with Marike de Klerk’s murder, SABC television news reported on Tuesday.
The latest allegations that Thebus was involved in de Klerk’s murder were made by 21-year-old security guard Luyanda Mboniswa, accused of the murder.
Mboniswa claimed during bail proceedings before magistrate Wilma van der Merwe in the Cape Town Regional Court on Tuesday that he had been approached by Thebus to assist in a late night burglary at the De Klerk home on December 2 last year.
But at his home in Cape Town, Thebus (53) said he was shocked at the death of his friend and dance pupil de Klerk and claimed he had nothing to do with de Klerk’s murder.
”No, not nothing whatsoever. It was a complete shock to me to hear, because on the Tuesday I heard she was dead but on the Wednesday when I heard she was murdered that was really terrible…”
Thebus said he met de Klerk two years ago and they became very good friends, while he also enjoyed spending time with her.
The report mentioned that Thebus also often accompanied de Klerk to social functions.
Thebus said he found it laughable that Mboniswa described him as de Klerk’s boyfriend.
Thebus believed he was de Klerk’s most frequent visitor, and said Mboniswa may have taken his details from the security register at the apartment.
The dance instructor said he never saw or spoke to Mboniswa. The report mentioned that police and Thebus said there is an alibi that withstood a lie detector test.
De Klerk (64) was found in her pyjamas in a passageway of her luxurious Table View flat in Cape Town on December 4. She had been strangled and stabbed in her back.
Mboniswa said that he and Thebus had met at a public toilet in Blaauwberg on the night in question and had then gone together to the De Klerk flat where Mboniswa had helped Thebus onto the balcony.
Thebus, once on the balcony, had pulled Mboniswa up, the accused said.
However, Superintendent Mike Barkhuizen, head of the serious and violent crimes unit in the Western Cape told the court he was satisfied that Thebus had been at home at the time De Klerk was killed and in fact had nothing to do with the case.
Thebus had been brought to the violent crimes office where his movements on December 2 had been thoroughly checked.
Barkhuizen said: ”We checked every aspect, but to date have been unable to corroborate any of the allegations made by the accused involving Thebus.”
Thebus had volunteered his fingerprints and DNA testing, allowed the police to search his house and car, and had even been subjected to a lie detector test, which found that he had shown no signs of deceit.
Mboniswa faces a murder and robbery charge framed under schedule six, which places the onus on him to satisfy the court that it is in the interests of justice to release him on bail.
Two other grounds for opposing bail were that Mboniswa was from the Eastern Cape, and had no links in the Western Cape. It could not be ruled out that he would not interfere with witnesses.
Barkhuizen told the court Mboniswa had also deliberately lied to the police about which takkies he had worn on the night of the De Klerk killing.
The hearing continues on Wednesday. – Sapa