Parents of dead Middelburg woman did not approve of relationship with cop

The parents of a young woman who died in Kranspoort on Sunday night said that they were not happy about the relationship their daughter had with Capt. Awie Geldenhuys, with whom she was at the time of her death, Middelburg Observer reports.

Maryka Kleinhans (31) died on the scene. It was said that she jumped out of a moving vehicle.

Maryka’s parents, Johan and Petro Bezuidenhout told the media, “Why were we kept away from the scene? Why did they not let us know about her death? Why did someone have to phone us from Lydenburg on Monday to sympathize before we were even aware that she was dead? Something just does not make sense!” the distraught couple said on Tuesday.

They said what they found most concerning was that capt. Geldenhuys did not call them himself, as he had their phone number.

Capt. Geldenhuys is stationed with the eMalahleni police.

However, they had only a couple of questions that haunted Johan and Petro Bezuidenhout, a concern they vehemently spoke with the media before they were to leave for Middelburg to collect their daughter’s remains.

Mr and Mrs Bezuidenhout said that they travelled to Middelburg on Monday, shortly after learning of their daughter’s death. Upon their arrival at the mortuary, they were informed that an autopsy is currently being performed and that it will take about an hour.

“We sat at the mortuary for more than six hours to wait for the autopsy to be completed.”

Mr Bezuidenhout said a police officer told them that they suspect foul play. The couple themselves say that their questions emanated from the fact that nobody informed them of their daughter’s death on the night she died.

“Awie phoned his brother from the scene to ask him to go there. His brother lives two blocks from us. He could have taken us with him. I could have gotten the chance to see her body whilst it was still warm. Instead, I had to go and identify her body among others in a mortuary. It was horrifying” a broken Mr Bezuidenhout said.

Mrs Bezuidenhout said that capt. Geldenhuys, after they managed to track him down around midnight on Monday, told them that Maryka was sitting on the backseat of his car before she died.

Maryka and capt. Geldenhuys were at Loskopdam for the day and were on their way home.

“He told us that they had an argument and she sat in the back of the vehicle. I find it highly unlikely that she would sit in the back because, like me, she easily gets carsick if she sits on the back seat,” said Mrs Bezuidenhout.

They are also baffled as to why she would have jumped out of the car.

“Awie told us that she was nearly run over by another car, whilst he was busy trying to get her to open her eyes.”

The couple said that they have never met Capt. Geldenhuys in person and only saw their daughter and him travelling together in a car on two occasions. They were aware that their daughter and capt. Geldenhuys was in a relationship for the past three months. 

The Bezuidenhout couple said that they did not approve of the relationship. They also did not want their three-year-old granddaughter to accompany Maryka when she went to visit Capt. Geldenhuys.

Mr Bezuidenhout said that all he wants is to know the truth about how his daughter died.

“Do we have to fear that the docket is going to go missing?”

• They were informed on Monday that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is investigating the case.

• Maryka was a hairdresser who worked at Die Ark hairdressers in Lydenburg up until December.

• She is survived by her parents, a brother and sister and her three-year-old child.

• Maryka was to testify in a case against Vic Welgemoed on 8 February. He stands accused of impersonating a police officer among other charges.