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By Jonisayi Maromo 
15h ago
Pretoria – One of South Africa’s most wanted fugitives, murder suspect Gerhardus Jansen van Vuuren, who fled the country to avoid trial for the 2011 murder of his ex-girlfriend, was due to be extradited on Friday, police said.
Jansen van Vuuren, 39, was due to stand trial in 2013 after he allegedly beat and stabbed his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend, Andrea Venter, to death in December 2011 outside the residential complex in Johannesburg where he lived, SAPS spokesman , Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.
Venter was Rustenburg’s first test tube baby, a miracle his parents had waited 13 years for. Jansen van Vuuren allegedly stalked, beat and stabbed her in front of neighbors and security guards at the gated property.
After a failed suicide attempt at the crime scene in 2011, Jansen van Vuuren was charged with Venter’s murder in Randburg Magistrates Court.
“He was later granted bail in Johannesburg High Court after SAPS successfully challenged bail twice before Randburg Magistrates Court. Four days before the start of his murder trial in May 2013, Jansen van Vuuren fled the country using false travel documentation, ”Naidoo said.
“Following this, Interpol (in) Pretoria issued an arrest warrant in which a process to trace and locate him was expedited. He was subsequently arrested by the Brazilian authorities in August 2013 on a false documentation charge and unfortunately he was released in 2015 after serving a sentence for this crime.
Naidoo said that for several years, Interpol in Pretoria had been in contact with Brazilian authorities to locate Jansen van Vuuren.
“In June 2020, the collaborative efforts of the investigation teams culminated in the arrest of the fugitive at an identified address in Brazil. He had been in police custody in a public prison in Rio de Jainero, Brazil since his arrest, ”he said.
“The fugitive will land at OR Tambo International Airport at 1 pm along with the Interpol investigation team that participated in his location.”
SAPS Commissioner General Khehla Sitole applauded all the work done in the search for Jansen van Vuuren.
“This is the culmination of the hard work and tireless efforts of our law enforcement officers, including the investigative psychology section within SAPS, Interpol Pretoria, the National Prosecutor’s Office, and the Brazilian federal police,” Sitole said.
“This is indeed a victory for us as a service. Thank you to the team that didn’t give up, even after years of hard work. Our goal is to bring closure to the family and friends of the deceased, as well as to ensure that justice is served ”.
African News Agency (ANA)
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