Daughter finds parents bodies

THE murder of an elderly Allen Grove couple on Monday morning has shocked the community.

Since the article had been published on looklocal shortly after the incident, many residents expressed their shock about the brutal double murder.

The bodies of Mr Pikkie Stassen (75) and his wife, Rina (74) were discovered in their Jacobus Road home by their daughter, Mrs Karien Linley (36), who went to get her daughter’s cell phone which was at the couple’s house. The last time she spoke to her mother was at 6.30am on Monday.

Kempton Park SAPS is still uncertain about the time of the murders but they were contacted at about 7.20am.

According to their son, Mr Mike Stassen, when his sister stopped in front of the gate, a well dressed man opened the gate with the remote and motioned for her to come in. Stassen said his sister suspected something was wrong. She thought quickly, backed up and drove around the corner. She tried to phone her father, and according to Stassen, one of the suspects picked up the phone, laughed at her and then hung up.

She then tried to phone Stassen, who was in a meeting, to tell him what happened. Stassen said at first she could not get through to him. The suspects escaped in the couple’s white BMW in the meantime.

After Linley tried to phone Stassen again, he answered the call and she told him what happened. Stassen immediately drove to the house but was stuck in traffic. He phoned his friend, W/O Bennie Liebenberg. Liebenberg went to the scene where he found Linley and the Stassen’s other son, Heinrich (43), who by then had discovered their parents’ bodies.

When Linley was waiting for her brothers, she went inside and found her father’s body in the garage. According to Mtshali his hands were tied and he was stabbed several times with a sharp object.

Mtshali said Rina’s body was found in the bedroom with her hands also tied. She was gagged.

According to Mtshali it is uncertain how she died but it looked as though she had been strangled . She was also covered in blood.

Stassen said his father was stabbed with a screw driver and his mother tied up with cable ties and strangled with a scarf.

Mtshali said the house was ransacked and various valuables, including the house’s CCTV cameras, were missing. Mike said the forensic team found the CCTV recorder behind a shelf at about 4.30pm while examining the scene. They do not know whether the suspects ripped out the camera cables before hand or whether they were caught on camera.

The suspects got away in the victims’ white BMW 118, registration number YTY916 GP. Stassen said the BMW’s tracking device last showed it was in Tembisa.

Stassen, who works with season contractors in Tembisa, sent out a mass sms to every worker on his database, offering a R10 000 reward for anyone who finds the car which would lead to the arrest of the suspects.

Mtshali asks anyone with information to contact the police on the toll free number 08600 10111 or sms them on 322 11.

Mike said his father, who was an accountant for most of his life and later secretary at Kempton Kruin Church, was a keen gardener. His father had a passion for his garden and community. So much so that he sometimes had grievances with people driving over the stop sign next to his house without stopping.

An elderly couple was driven over at this stop sign as a result of people not stopping. That was why his father took it upon himself to make sure people drove responsibly.

Stassen said some time ago his father was attacked by a young man who drove over the stop street. When Pikkie confronted him, the young man assaulted him. A case of assault was opened, but his father dropped the case because he did not want to ruin this young man’s life.

“My parents were wonderful people.” His mother, a home maker, and his father, who played rugby for Western Province in the ’60s, regularly handed out Bibles. Although hard headed at times, he had the smallest heart of anyone he had ever met, Stassen said.

Mr Henry van Blerk wrote on EXPRESS’ Facebook page: “Pikkie Stassen served as secretary at the NG Church Kempton-Kruin where I, for about nine years since 1983, worked as a deacon. It is unbelievable that such a person had been taken from us in such a cruel manner. What is happening to mankind?”

Candice Allen Ninaber said: “This leaves me shattered! Just a few blocks from my home. Why oh why do they have to kill? How are pensioners going to fight back? Why can’t they just take what they want and leave?

“These attacks are planned and carried out with military precision. There are many people out there and they are influencing hundreds to murder, rape and kill. We are our own security. We are alone and if we don’t get together and do something, no one will. Stassen said about his parents “Jacobus street won’t be the same without them”.