The Gauteng High Court Pretoria is expected to come to know more about who double murderer Zaheera Boomgaard is after a hefty document compiled by a social worker regarding the personal circumstances of the 62-year-old killer will come under the spotlight.
Sentencing procedures were due to start on Monday, but the prosecution asked Judge John Holland-Muter to stand the matter down to Wednesday. Prosecutor Andre Wilsenach said he received the hefty pre-sentencing report shortly before the proceedings were due to start and he needed to study it.
A copy of the document was also handed to Boomgaard in the dock, where she appeared in high spirits, laughing and talking to the female police officers who kept an eye on her as she is in custody.
Zaheera Boomgaard
Boomgaard was earlier this year convicted on two counts of murder as well as on a host of other crimes, including forging a will and 36 counts of theft regarding cash withdrawals from the account of one of her victims.
Two bodies were found within months of each going missing, both burnt beyond recognition. Both were also strangled and hit with an object before they were set alight. Boomgaard was acquitted on a third count of murder against her, but this body was never found.
The court said there was not enough evidence to link her to the third alleged killing. John Naisby went missing in 2012 after visiting Boomgaard and was never seen again. But Judge Holland-Muter said there was overwhelming evidence to convict her of the murders of Jamnadas Harkant Nathvani, a British national whose body was burnt beyond recognition, as well as that of her friend, Lyntette Mustapha, 72.
Nathvani, also 72, had arrived in Gauteng in 2020, and he was last seen in February that year when he took a bus from Park Station in Johannesburg to Newcastle in KwaZulu Natal. A missing person’s case was opened at the Newcastle police station, and the information was circulated.
His body was found in the open veld in Gauteng in March 2020 and was burnt beyond recognition. It was months later that the police were able to identify him by his teeth, but it was established that there were signs of blunt force trauma and strangulation.
Mustapha’s charred remains were found in Walkerville a few months later. She was identified by her fingerprints.Boomgaard denied the bulk of the charges against her, but she did admit that she used Nathvani’s bank card after his death.
The State called several witnesses, including a woman who had discovered the charred body of Nathvani in March 2020. This was near the residence of the accused. A police sergeant who visited the scene discovered imprints, which resembled tyre imprints, on the ground near where the body was discovered. The imprints matched the tyres of Boomgaard’s car.
Another police officer testified about a blue and white rope around the neck of the deceased’s body.
Boomgaard’s neighbour, Christina Uys, testified that she saw this man several times walking in the complex’s garden. She saw him sitting on a bench outside Boomgaard’s unit and once lying on a couch in the unit. It turned out to be Nathvani.
Uys said the last time she saw him was when Boomgaard had returned home around midnight. She noticed that Boomgaard was sweeping outside her unit and pouring water onto the driveway around midnight. Regarding Mustapha’s death, and after the police found her smouldering body next to a road, two of Mustapha’s cellphones were found inside Boomgaard’s home.
A will, which was later proven to be forged, was also found in the house. In terms of the will, Boomgaard was the beneficiary of her estate.
In other news – Gigi Lamayne pens heartfelt birthday tribute to Sizwe Alakine (Reason)
Rapper Gigi Lamayne left fans emotional after sharing a heartfelt message to her partner, fellow artist Sizwe Alakine (formerly known as Reason), in celebration of his 38th birthday.
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