Oranjemund Online

ORANJEMUND DISCUSSIONS! => Things I Remember About Oranjemund! => Topic started by: Claire Mc Cullagh on July 19, 2007, 08:09:32 AM

Title: The Green Spot
Post by: Claire Mc Cullagh on July 19, 2007, 08:09:32 AM
I remeber evert time my Mom or Dad did any gardening we were always asked to take the rubbish to the green spot.
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Michael Alexander on July 20, 2007, 12:44:02 PM
Yep! Yep! , but the real green spot was down by the river, there where that little jetty is for the golf club pumps, place of attempted murder....  ah! the stories!

:o

Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Michael Alexander on July 21, 2007, 10:35:52 AM
So on my Saturday morning drive with the dog to the beach I took a snapshot of the real Greenspot..
and some fews down and up the river, Huh! who needs the Okavango?  ;D

Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: SandyB on July 21, 2007, 11:56:38 AM
Attempted  murder .. there  was  a  murder  in I  think late 79/ early 80 ...  wont mention  names ..  but  the guys  body was  dumped in the river   near  the golf  club  and  his   car  abandoned  in  the  dumps ...  is  this  maybe  what  wer'e  talking about ??
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Michael Alexander on July 21, 2007, 11:58:46 AM
NOpe , you're one was Van Eck or something , an appie was'nt it? Anyhow this one was attempted by 2 woman trying to knock a 3rd one off about 10 years back...... Love triangle type stuff I think, I was'nt there , Honestly!

:o
Title: Re: The Green Spot/murder in om
Post by: bobbysmith on July 21, 2007, 12:36:48 PM
hi mike,i returned to namibia in 1975 for a holliday and got talking to an ex omunder called mark van heerden,he had two brothers called wyne and grant,he told me that his brother grant was in prison for murder in om,any truth in that?
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Michael Alexander on July 21, 2007, 01:21:04 PM
Yes , he was, but Last I heard he was out quite a while ago!

:-[
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: SandyB on July 23, 2007, 08:24:58 AM
Ok  name  mentioned ..  Grant  .. yes  he  is  out  ..  I  was  walking  down  Roodebloem   road  to  our  local   one  evening   and bumped  into  him ..  quite   uneasy  about it ..   he  used  to  hang around  Sportsmans  and  was  always  sort of  hanging  around  me  , kept  him  at distance , just  felt  uneasy ,, later  on  in  time   saw  him  hanging  out  with the  victim   .. the  rest  we  all know .. A  love  triangle  in  Oranjemund ?? think there  were many  .. working  behind a  bar  gave  one  a   fly on the  wall  aspect  of  things .. hey  it happens  everywhere  just that its  a  small  town and  everybody  sort of knows  everybodys  business ....
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Michael Alexander on July 25, 2007, 08:17:48 PM
Sandy, there was another murder story here in the 80's somewhere, the Els kid knifing some guy in 7th ave to death... Gee! talk about the wild west! Security caught up with him in one of those tall tree's in 5th ave...

:-\
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Nicky Hodge on July 27, 2007, 03:16:13 AM
Grant Van Eeden, ..... Remember him well. He was arrested in the Hexen Kessel if my memory serves me correctly !! We all thought he would get life. I had the hots for his sister Courtenay around that time, and recall dating her once or twice. ( Nice Chick ). I also served my apprenticeship with her other brother Mark at tech. I think there was an older brother Wayne, and a younger one called Ryan.
Their mother Faith, eventually left town after their Dad died. I think they lived in 72 - 2nd Ave, before the McCullagh's moved in. Does anyone know what happened to them all after this
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Delia on July 27, 2007, 11:46:55 AM
it was jan smit that the els guy murdered - i worked with jan at uubvley in 83/84 - think he was a chargehand at one of the base workshops, nice guy, always smiling and friendly.
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: brandonvdw on July 27, 2007, 12:26:41 PM
I also remember the else murder he was about my age in time, he worked for the family video hire service, not sure if it was a love thing or money thing.....i remember being very scared about that when i heard as dale becker and myself had about 2/3 weeks before that got into a fight with him and his brother......if it is the same lot.....
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: bobbysmith on July 27, 2007, 02:02:58 PM
i met mark ,grant and wayne in 1975 or 76,they were liveing in windhoek at the time,the lived across the road from us when we were at e23/9th,and next door to cherry and coral alcock,so they were in e10th ave
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Nicky Hodge on July 27, 2007, 02:19:36 PM
Wasn't there also a Serena Van Eeden ? What ever happened to her?
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Vikki de Jager (Summers) on July 28, 2007, 08:33:35 PM
Hi Claire

I see that Michael has diverted your green spot post into a murder enquiry !!! To give you an update, the green spots that were painted onto the fences to demarcate garden refuse drop points became big rusty yellow skips that were dotted around at the end of every few streets. Most of the rubbish tended to overflow or else be dumped alongside the skips ! And there were constant reminders in the newsletter not to add household waste to the skips.The one at the end of my street disappeared a while ago and the designated dump site tends to start off as a small heap at the beginning of a week and tends to stretch over several metres as people arrive from all directions with their wheelbarrows and don't want to walk the extra few steps to add their pile to someone else's. Causes havoc when the east wind blows !!
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Skyler Fields on July 30, 2007, 11:15:44 AM
Quote from: Nicky Hodge on July 27, 2007, 02:19:36 PM
Wasn't there also a Serena Van Eeden ? What ever happened to her?
I used to date Ryan van eden, it was his brother that murdered someone in the late 70's and it was a guy he murdered and they said it was because he was gay ... as the story goes Ryan's brother picked this unsesecpecting 'victim' up at the Sports Bar and had no idea that they guy he was drinking was was in fact gay anyway, they went back to Ryans Brother's "single quaters" ( i have forgotten which brother it was) and apparently it was a "come on" gone wrong, the victim realised too late what was happening, he was knifed ( preety seriously I am led to believe) to death over his entire body, wrapped up in a rug and dumped at the Green Spot.  Ryans brother was sentenced to time in Jail and ended up stabbing a security guard (apparently) and got no parole ... the rest is history.

The Els boy was apparently in love with the wife of his victim.  He worked at their video shop and had been asked to leave for various reasons, his father asked that he be given a second chance which he was and upon their return home from a holiday apparently written in lipstick on a mirror where the words I am going to kill you.  Security was called and the locks where changed but apparently he was hiding under the bed all the time, crept out and stabbed the husband a few times.  the wife was stabbed as well and one of the reasons she wasn't seriously hurt (so they say) was because he was in love with her.

He asked me for a light for his cigarette once and I told him that smoking woudl kill him and he replied that someone always gets killed sometime, i shat my pants and remember bumping into him down the alley way next to the guide hall and I was petrified, the last i heard Julian Louw told me he was working at a butchers.
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: SandyB on July 30, 2007, 12:35:07 PM
Come come  now ...  No  offence  meant  but  please choose    words  carefully ..   Murdered  because  you're  gay ?    ...If  you  read  back  to  my  previous  posting ... I stated   that  Grant   was   hanging around  the  sportsmans  a  lot ...  tried   for  some  time  to  get into  my  personal  space  ..  I felt very  uncomfortable  with it ( guardian angels maybe ? )  ...  anyhow  when  he  saw  no  progress   .  he  moved  on   to the  victim ..  He  was  seen  in  the  company  of  his  his victim  ( incidentally  a much  older   and  not  so  attractive  guy ) many  times   before  the incident .. surely  a grown   young  man  would  be  able  to  pick  up  signals   from  the  other one  earlier  ??   further  to  that  if  there  was  an  approach  that  went  wrong   then   he  had  option  of  getting  himself  out  of  the situation  - a  few taai  klaps   and  to  say  " I am  not  that sort  of person  ..  I think  you  have misunderstood   me "  ...   not  to  murder  the  person ??   From  my observation  the  guy  was lonely  and  yes  ,, gay ,   and  must  have  thought  he  was  in  " heaven " when   this attractive young  guy  started paying attention  to  him   and  cultivating  a  " friendship"  with him ?  ???

Long  and short of  it  is that  two  wrongs  do  not  make  a right ...   

   It is  indeed  a  sad  outcome   that  a person loses their life   because they  misread   a  situation .
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: JohanB on August 17, 2007, 06:41:17 PM
Regarding the Els case:

he got busted stealing from the video shop till after a trap was set, and though the cops came, the very Jan Smit that got murdered got the police to not press charges, giving the kid a break. The boy was humiliated, and broke into the house one night for revenge. When Jan's wife heard something she woke him up, and as he swung his feet off the bed, he stepped on the Els chap, who was lying on the floor right next to the bed. A fight broke out, and Jan struggled with the kid whilst shouting to his wife to grab the kids and run next door. Else hacked at both of them, but Jan fought him off, and got fatally wounded in return.
That's the way Jan's wife told it to my folks.

Anyone knows what happened to the wife and kids afterwards?
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Kathleen McCullagh on August 18, 2007, 01:43:47 AM
Was that Dean and Jean?
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: JohanB on August 18, 2007, 06:06:53 PM
Will have to ask my sister, she knows. She was in their class at the time of the incident.
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Richard Opperman on August 21, 2007, 01:27:06 PM
Serena and Wayne van Heerden have both passed away.
Serena I think with complications after a birth and Wayne in a car accident in northern Namibia.
The rest of the family I do not know, last heard some where in Cape Town?

Richard  8)
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Nicky Hodge on August 21, 2007, 02:31:25 PM

Hey Richard, thanks for that info on Wayne and Serena. How sad. I seem to recall the incident with Wayne ( did this happen during the eighties?). Shocked to hear about Serena however. What year did this happen? This family has sure had their run of bad luck hey? Unbelievable!
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: barb (Fry) on August 21, 2007, 04:54:51 PM
Bad luck, last heard of in Plumstead area I believe.

Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Richard Opperman on September 01, 2007, 01:51:30 PM
Nicky, sorry so late with a reply - but so much to read on this site.
Wayne I think was in the 80s - happened at night a kudu went through the front window.
Serena I think also in the 80s, not to sure about the date.

Richard  8) 
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Nicky Hodge on September 01, 2007, 03:15:21 PM

Hi Richard, thanks for that latest update. Very sad.
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: barb (Fry) on December 12, 2007, 02:12:06 PM
Barbara I tried to quote on other topic from here for you but but it doesn't work.
Title: Re: The Green Spot
Post by: Cheleen Koekemoer(Pretorius) on December 12, 2007, 02:24:28 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the Els case:

he got busted stealing from the video shop till after a trap was set, and though the cops came, the very Jan Smit that got murdered got the police to not press charges, giving the kid a break. The boy was humiliated, and broke into the house one night for revenge. When Jan's wife heard something she woke him up, and as he swung his feet off the bed, he stepped on the Els chap, who was lying on the floor right next to the bed. A fight broke out, and Jan struggled with the kid whilst shouting to his wife to  the kids and run next door. Else hacked at both of them, but Jan fought him off, and got fatally wounded in return.
That's the way Jan's wife told it to my folks.

Anyone knows what happened to the wife and kids afterwards?

@Johan B

Jip, that is the correct story....Security came to look for him at hour house that night as he and my brother was close friends, but he did not know where he was, only later they phoned us and told us that they found him.
Auntie Marie, Yvette and Arno
They moved to Upington for a while and then to Windhoek.  She remarried to a guy named Toffie, but I think they got divorced again.  Yvette, the eldest got married a few years back also living in WIndhoek, and the son Arno was studying in Cape Town.  Don't know what, but we see them from time to time.

Oh his name is Dean Ells.  Last that my eldest brother told me is he is living in Vredendal and is married.