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Casper Kruger

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Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Robberies
Number of victims: 3
Date of murders: 1991
Date of arrest: November 1991
Date of birth: ???
Victims profile: Pharmacist Adriaan Combrink, telephone operator Johannes Loggienberg and bank manager Johannes Kruger (gay men)
Method of murder: ???
Location: Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Status: Sentenced to death, 1992. Commuted to life. Escaped. Shot dead by police snipers during a hostage drama at Pinetown police cells on April 9, 2006





Pinetown hostage-taker was a serial killer

April 9, 2006

Today Casper Kruger was felled by a shot from a police sniper during a hostage drama at Pinetown police cells.

At the time, the police had no idea that Kruger, who had been in custody for a month, was one of the country’s most wanted serial killers.

He had also previously been on death row. Kruger was being held on a hijacking charge but was in fact a triple murderer on the run.

Although his fingerprints had been sent for analysis at the time of his arrest, there is often a six- to eight-week wait for the results.

Kruger’s life came to an end after he decided to make a break for it by holding four police officers and several prisoners hostage in the Pinetown Police Station last Sunday. But things turned nasty.

Sharpshooters were called in and, after negotiations failed, it was one shot to the mouth that killed him instantly.

Earlier in the day, a food parcel was delivered to Kruger. A woman, believed to be his girlfriend, had been seen several times in a silver car with two other men.

Captain Karen Middleborough had become suspicious and ordered a search of his cell. It was there that the four officers were confronted by Kruger who was armed with a firearm.

In the ensuing shootout, Inspector Eric Maphri was seriously injured by wounds to his chest and Middleborough was wounded in the hand.

It is not known when exactly police became aware that the man in their custody was not “Jacques du Plessis” arrested for hijacking.

Kruger was arrested in November 1991 for the murders of pharmacist Adriaan Combrink, telephone operator Johannes Loggienberg and bank manager Johannes Kruger. All three were gay.

Found guilty in 1992, along with accomplices Petrus Nieuwenhuis and Philip van der Merwe, Kruger received three death sentences and 33 years imprisonment.

Kruger and Van der Merwe targeted gays at the Botanical Gardens in Emmarentia, Johannesburg. They beat their victims up, extracted cheques, bank pin numbers and cash before killing them.

The proceeds of their ill-gotten gains were used to buy large quantities of liquor and hire women from escort agencies.

Nieuwenhuis only participated in one of the killings and turned State witness against Kruger and Van der Merwe.

However, with the winds of change blowing through South Africa, Kruger’s death sentence was commuted to three life imprisonment terms and 22 years.

Kruger had a history of escape attempts: his first was from the holding cells of the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court while he was awaiting trail. A blade was smuggled into the cells and he sawed his way out.

He and notorious suitcase killer Jano Nortje (he had chopped up his victim, an elderly man, and was arrested while in possession of a suitcase containing the man’s remains) escaped from Pretoria Central in May 1997. He was given an additional eight years.

He escaped again from a clinic, where he had been taken after complaining of illness.

Kruger had apparently met a woman at Knowles Spar, Pinetown, for the purpose of doing a “business deal”.

Pinetown police communications officer Debbie O’Brien said the woman and Kruger then travelled to a venue in Otto Volek Road in Pinetown.

There he took out a gun and tied her up and put her in the boot of his car. However, the woman managed to untie herself and escape before alerting police.

Kruger was arrested a few days later on March 8 for hijacking, when he gave his name as Jacques du Plessis.

Last Thursday he appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court for his bail hearing. However, the court was not satisfied that police had properly confirmed his identity and he was remanded to April 14.

Senior police officials were at the scene in Pinetown and the “top brass were very angry”, one source told the Daily News.

Police spokesperson Director Bala Naidoo said investigations were under way as to how a gun was smuggled into the cells.

“We would be interested in speaking to her (Kruger’s girlfriend), but we cannot start jumping to conclusions,” he said.

Asked about Kruger, Naidoo declined to be drawn on the matter saying that investigations were at a sensitive stage.

The Daily News knows that the woman worked in the marketing department of a local community newspaper. She would not comment.

He killed three men

Violent life of gunman shot in cell

April, 13, 2006

Last Sunday Casper Kruger was felled by a shot from a police sniper during a hostage drama at Pinetown police cells. At the time, the police had no idea that Kruger, who had been in custody for a month, was one of the country's most wanted serial killers.

He had also previously been on death row. Kruger was being held on a hijacking charge but was in fact a triple murderer on the run.

Although his fingerprints had been sent for analysis at the time of his arrest, there is often a six- to eight-week wait for the results.

Kruger's life came to an end after he decided to make a break for it by holding four police officers and several prisoners hostage in the Pinetown Police Station last Sunday. But things turned nasty.

Sharpshooters were called in and, after negotiations failed, it was one shot to the mouth that killed him instantly.

Earlier in the day, a food parcel was delivered to Kruger. A woman, believed to be his girlfriend, had been seen several times in a silver car with two other men. Capt Karen Middleborough had become suspicious and ordered a search of his cell. It was there that the four officers were confronted by Kruger who was armed with a firearm.

In the ensuing shootout, Insp Eric Maphri was seriously injured by wounds to his chest and Middleborough was wounded in the hand.

It is not known when exactly police became aware that the man in their custody was not "Jacques du Plessis" arrested for hijacking.

Kruger was arrested in November 1991 for the murders of pharmacist Adriaan Combrink, telephone operator Johannes Loggienberg and bank manager Johannes Kruger. All three were gay.

Found guilty in 1992, along with accomplices Petrus Nieuwenhuis and Philip van der Merwe, Kruger received three death sentences and 33 years imprisonment.

Kruger and Van der Merwe targeted gays at the Botanical Gardens in Emmarentia, Johannesburg. They beat their victims up, extracted cheques, bank pin numbers and cash before killing them. The proceeds of their ill-gotten gains were used to buy large quantities of liquor and hire women from escort agencies.

Nieuwenhuis only participated in one of the killings and turned State witness against Kruger and Van der Merwe.

However, with the winds of change blowing through South Africa, Kruger's death sentence was commuted to three life imprisonment terms and 22 years.

Kruger had a history of escape attempts: his first was from the holding cells of the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court while he was awaiting trail. A blade was smuggled into the cells and he sawed his way out.

He and notorious suitcase killer Jano Nortje (he had chopped up his victim, an elderly man, and was arrested while in possession of a suitcase containing the man's remains) escaped from Pretoria Central in May 1997. He was given an additional eight years.

He escaped again from a clinic, where he had been taken after complaining of illness.

Kruger had apparently met a woman at Knowles Spar, Pinetown, for the purpose of doing a "business deal". Pinetown police communications officer Debbie O'Brien said the woman and Kruger then travelled to a venue Otto Volek Road in Pinetown.

There he took out a gun and tied her up and put her in the boot of his car. However, the woman managed to untie herself and escape before alerting police. Kruger was arrested a few days later on March 8 for hijacking, when he gave his name as Jacques du Plessis.

Last Thursday he appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court for his bail hearing. however, the court was not satisfied that police had properly confirmed his identity and he was remanded to April 14.

Senior police officials were at the scene in Pinetown and the "top brass were very angry" one source told the Daily News.

Police spokesman Dir Bala Naidoo said investigations were under way as to how a gun was smuggled into the cells. "We would be interested in speaking to her (Kruger's girlfriend), but we cannot start jumping to conclusions," he said.

Asked about Kruger, Naidoo declined to be drawn on the matter citing that investigations were at a sensitive stage.

The Daily News knows that the woman worked in the marketing department of a local community newspaper. She would not comment.

Court sequel to hostage drama

April 20, 2006

Two Pinetown policemen and a Highway Mail employee were arrested on Wednesday afternoon for their alleged involvement in last week's hostage drama when a triple murderer was shot dead by police snipers.

Insp Maxwell Khumalo and Insp Welcome Ntethu face charges of corruption, defeating the ends of justice and aiding and abetting.

Robbie van Alphen, who works in the Highway Mail marketing department, faces charges of aiding and abetting.

The three men where arrested by the Provincial Head of the Serious and Violent Crime Unit, Director Johan Booysen, on Wednesday morning.

They appeared briefly in the Pinetown Magistrate's Court on Wednesday afternoon. Van Alphen was granted bail of R2 000, however prosecutor Pareen Vahed said the state intended to oppose bail in respect of Khumalo and Nthethu. They were remanded in custody until May 2.

The trio are alleged to have been involved in the hostage drama at the Pinetown police station last week.

Casper Kruger, who was being held on a hijacking charge, held four policeman and several prisoners hostage after a gun was smuggled into his cell.

After failed negotiations with Kruger, a police sharpshooter killed him instantly with a single shot.

However, it was only after Kruger's death that police discovered he was one of South Africa's most wanted serial killers.

He had been using the name Jacques du Plessis when he was arrested for the hijacking charge.

Kruger was originally arrested in November 1991 for the murders of pharmacist Adriaan Combrink, telephone operator Johannes Loggieberg and bank manager Johannes Kruger. All three men were gay.

Casper Kruger and Philip van der Merwe were convicted of the three murders in 1992. Kruger was sentenced to three death sentences and 33 years imprisonment.

But when South Africa's new constitution was introduced, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Kruger made three failed escape attempts before successfully escaping from Leeuwkop Prison in May last year.

He subsequently came to Durban and changed his name. Then a chance meeting in Pinetown changed things.

He apparently met a woman at a shop for business purposes and they travelled to a venue in Otto Volek Road. There he pulled a gun, tied her up and forced her into his car boot.

But the woman managed to escape and Kruger was arrested on March 8 for hijacking, a month before his failed escape attempt.

Vodka bribe 'secured firearm for inmate'

May 18 2006

A bottle of vodka was all it took to bribe two policemen to smuggle a cellphone and gun to a dangerous criminal being held at the Pinetown police station, who carried the weapon to several court appearances.

And it had devastating consequences: a hostage drama and shootout in the cells left two policemen seriously wounded, the suspect dead and the reputation of the police service in tatters.

This was the evidence on Wednesday during the bail application in the Pinetown magistrate's court of the two policemen who are accused of helping former death-row prisoner Casper Kruger to escape from custody.

Inspectors Maxwell Khumalo and Simpiwe Nthetha are charged with corruption, defeating the ends of justice, smuggling and aiding a prisoner to escape.

Devastating consequences

A manager from the Highway Mail newspaper, Robert van Alphen, is also charged with aiding a prisoner to escape. He has already been granted bail of R2 000. In testimony on Wednesday, the investigating officer, Inspector Peter George, from Durban's Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, said Kruger - although not known by that name until after his death - had been arrested for robbery and kidnapping and was being held at the Pinetown cells pending bail.

His girlfriend - identified only as the "complainant" and who has turned state witness - had approached the two policemen, asking if she could visit him after visiting hours. It had been agreed she would buy them a bottle of vodka. She and Khumalo had gone in her car to the bottle store, and she had bought the alcohol. She had then visited Kruger in his cell, after visiting hours and without being searched.

George said she had made several such visits. On one occasion she had left a bag containing the gun and cellphone at the police station. Later she had received an SMS from Kruger, confirming that he had received it.

George alleged that Kruger had made several appearances in F court with the gun.

One Sunday in early April, a police captain, "suspecting that something was not right", had assembled a team and searched the cells. Kruger had opened fire, shooting one police officer in the hand and another in the lung.

Arrested for robbery and kidnapping

During the ensuing hostage drama he had been shot dead by a member of a police task team.

Only then did it emerge that Kruger had been using a false name and that he was an escaped convict who had once been on death row but had had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

George said the police management was "extremely upset" because the two policemen had placed the entire service in disrepute.

Under cross-examination by defence attorney Siven Samuel, George conceded that the girlfriend had put the gun and ammunition in the bag and that he was "unsure" if the policemen had even known there was a gun in it. "She was the architect of this crime and yet the police just accept her word and she is not prosecuted," Samuels said.

But George insisted that Kruger had had the gun since March. Both policemen said they would plead not guilty to the charges.

In another Pinetown court, two more Pinetown policemen facing similar corruption charges also made a bail application on Wednesday.

According to the charge sheet, Inspector David Khumalo and Captain Emmanuel Cele, both of Pinetown, have been charged with corruption for "taking R10 and a bottle of vodka in return for allowing a visitor to visit a prisoner outside of visiting hours".

It is believed that this case also relates to the Kruger matter.
 
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