Community members decided to postpone their planned march to the Strydenburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after learning that the man accused of beating his girlfriend to death would only make a brief court appearance.
THE COMMUNITY of Strydenburg decided to postpone their planned march to the local magistrate’s court yesterday after learning that the man accused of beating his girlfriend to death with a bicycle chain and a spade would only make a brief court appearance.
The community received confirmation on Tuesday afternoon that the accused, Anthony Harris Samson, 28, will only make a brief appearance in order to apply for legal representation.
The community has demanded that the accused be denied bail.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Sergio Kock said the Strydenburg police are investigating a murder case after Samson allegedly brutally assaulted his girlfriend Natasha Goeieman, 27, on Wednesday, April 6.
The alleged incident happened at about 9.30pm in the presence of family members.
Goeieman died on the scene.
The Strydenburg SAPS Visible Policing unit followed up on information and arrested Samson on Friday, April 8, at about 8pm, in the Strydenburg CBD.
Samson made a brief appearance in the Hopetown Magistrate’s Court and the case was remanded to Wednesday, April 13 in the Strydenburg Magistrate’s Court.
The bail application is scheduled for April 20.
The incident has sparked outrage among the small community of Strydenburg, and they plan to put pressure on the court to refuse the accused bail.
Goeieman’s family claim that she was in an abusive relationship and had previously opened assault charges against the accused, but later withdrew them.
The community has accused the judicial system of “continuously compromising the safety of women by letting criminals roam the streets to continue to terrorise innocent people”.
The chairperson of Youth Against Crime, Jacobus April, said this was the third incident in three years where a woman was brutally killed by her male partner.
Regarding the two previous incidents, April said that one of the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment while the other was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
“We have had enough. Our women can’t continue to live in fear like this. We are going to involve all relevant stakeholders from around De Aar to participate in our call for no bail,” said April.
