A desperate need to raise money for her children’s education drove Desiree Oberholzer to agree to a plan to kill Icelandic national Gisli Thorkelsson, she told the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday.
She said murder-accused Willie Theron told her of the plan after she told him that she was resorting to prostitution to raise money.
Oberholzer is currently serving 20 years for premeditated murder. This follows her confession to the murder and her subsequent conviction on October 20 2006.
”Willie asked if I would help him kill Gisli for R100 000. He showed me Gisli’s bank slip with an amount of R300 000.”
She said she thought Theron was joking, but later agreed to help kill Thorkelsson before he left on a trip to the United States.
”The plan was to kill him the night before he left so we threw a farewell party for him the night before the trip.”
It was at that party that Thorkelsson’s drink was spiked with Valium.
”Willie asked me to crush the Valium tablets, put them in Gisli’s drink and let him drink it.
”I got afraid and decided not to do it,” she said.
She said she later gave Thorkelsson another drink with Valium and waited for him to go to the wooden hut he lived in, in Kempton Park.
But Oberholzer and Theron later realised that Thorkelsson was lying on his bed reading a book and not sleeping as they had expected.
”Willie suggested we go fetch somebody who would help him strangle Gisli because he couldn’t do it alone as Gisli was quite a big person.”
She said their plan failed because on returning from fetching the third person, Thorkelsson was still awake and they decided to go to bed.
Theron and Oberholzer then decided to put their plans on hold until Thorkelsson returned from the US.
It was while Thorkelsson was in the US that Theron asked Oberholzer to prepare a fax stating that Thorkelsson would not be returning to South Africa. Also included in the fax was information detailing how Thorkelsson’s assets should be disposed of.
Meanwhile, Theron told the court that greed had driven him to fraudulently
draw money from Thorkelsson’s account in July 2005.
”I did what I did out of pure greed, I know it was illegal and I apologise for that,” said Theron (29) during an explanation of his guilty plea on six charges of fraud.
Theron, who is standing trial with three other people including his wife, also faces a charge of murder.
Together with Andre Frederick Koekemoer (35) Hendrik Johannes Breedt (44) and Linda Theron (29) he allegedly shot and killed Thorkelsson in May 2005.
Following the shooting they allegedly drove Thorkelsson’s body to Breedt’s house in Boksburg, put it into a dustbin and covered it with cement.
They have all denied murdering Thorkelsson. – Sapa