JESSICA WHEELER -
Cape Town detectives sent to follow up after teen’s murder 10 years ago
THE 10-year-old Jessica Wheeler murder case, which was solved, took a surprise turn recently when Cape Town detectives were sent to Knysna to follow up on information received from a source.
The body of 18-year-old Wheeler was found in the St George’s Anglican Church yard in the town on October 13 2005.
Following the discovery of the body of another young woman, Victoria Stadler, 20, a month later in the Noetzie Forest, Knysna DJ Heinrich van Rooyen was arrested. He was found guilty of both murders and sentenced to life in jail. He maintained his innocence throughout the case, which divided residents.
Southern Cape police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie would not say what new information police had about the murders, but confirmed detectives from the provincial office in Cape Town had been sent to Knysna to follow up information they had received from a source.
“As a result, they have met with the detective commander and also scrutinised the filed docket pertaining to the murder,” Pojie said. “Bear in mind that the investigation is finalised following the conviction and sentencing of Van Rooyen.”
Pojie said police had an obligation to investigate the new allegations. “The authenticity as well as the origin of the information needs to be investigated.”
His comments come on the back of a new probe launched into the murders by author Alan D Elsdon.
Elsdon, who penned the book The Tall Assassin, recently travelled to Knysna, where he spent three months sifting through evidence gathered over the course of the investigation and subsequent trial. He claims to have tracked down a witness from the night Wheeler was murdered.
“This eyewitness has made a written statement to an independent attorney and explained how he was a witness to the murder of Wheeler. He said that the person who murdered her in the Anglican Church yard was in fact someone who had testified in the court case against Van Rooyen.”
Elsdon said he had visited Van Rooyen in prison where he became convinced of his innocence. He would not elaborate on what the other witness claims to have seen on the night of Wheeler’s murder, but said he had passed the information on to police.
“However, it immediately became clear that the investigating officer’s interest was to try and find fault with the new evidence,” Elsdon claimed.
“Rather than grasp the obvious and embark on a course that would see justice served, the officer was clearly more aware of the negative outcome any proof of perjury and miscarriage of justice would cause the SAPS and its members in Knysna.”
Elsdon said he would continue to monitor the police investigation into the matter.
-Andrew Stone
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