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Please note this story contains graphic details that might upset sensitive readers. Discretion is advised.
I have no idea how many times I stabbed her but only stopped when her blood sprayed in my face.
This is how Colin ‘Junior’ Kannemeyer described the moment when he brutally murdered his wife of 35 years, Cheryl-Ann Kannemeyer.
With his wife’s blood splattered on his face, he “stood there” in “disbelief” looking at what he had done.
The details of what transpired on the day of Cheryl-Anne’s murder were laid bare in a chilling confession made by Kannemeyer in the Gqeberha High Court on Tuesday when he was sentenced to an effective 25 years in prison.
It formed part of a plea agreement that he had entered into with the State, which was read into the court record in the presence of his children and family, who wept as they listened to the harrowing account.
The 58-year-old killer also described how he strangled his wife and stabbed himself in a bid to end his own life.
The days leading up to the murder
In the days before the murder on 27 December last year, the couple’s financial difficulties had caused them to argue.
At the time, they were residing with Kannemeyer’s elderly father, who informed him of his intention to sell the house, meaning they had to seek other accommodation.
A discussion at a friend’s birthday party on 16 December 2023 about a new development in Fairview led Kannemeyer to think that Cheryl-Ann had discussed their business with outsiders, which caused further arguments between the two.
His irritation with his wife boiled over the following day (17 December 2023) when a confrontation between the two led to him slapping her three times across the face.
According to Kannemeyer, it was apparent that Cheryl-Ann had called their son, Dexter, and informed him about what happened because he showed up at their house and assaulted his father.
According to him, news of the assault had reached their common employer, who had a strict policy regarding gender-based violence.
He knew he was in trouble when he was removed from all the work WhatsApp groups and when senior employees would no longer take his calls.
This also prompted fears that he would not be able to find employment within the property sector in the future.
Tumultuous marriage
According to the plea agreement, Cheryl-Ann had moved out numerous times in the past when things were rocky, but always returned within a day or two.
After the assault on 17 December, however, aside from returning home to collect what she needed, Cheryl-Ann did not return and move back like all the previous times.
“I started getting worried and thought that she was going to leave me for good, a thought that terrified me.
“I was besotted and obsessed with my wife, and I was very jealous as well.”
A day before the murder, Cheryl-Ann messaged Kannemeyer to inform him that she would come to the house on 27 December to fetch her belongings.
Kannemeyers depression about his work and his future, coupled with the worry of his wife leaving him then set his plans to commit suicide in motion.
He had written a note detailing his plans and placed it on his desk.
“I started the actual preparations to hang myself when I was interrupted by a phone call.
“I decided that I was going to try a last time to talk to my wife and if she was really going to leave me for good I would kill her and then kill myself.
“I could not live without her and I did not want anyone else to have her either.” (stet)
The day of the murder
Cheryl-Ann arrived at 08:45 the next day with a previous housekeeper and her son who helped with the packing.
By the time she arrived, Kannemeyer had finished a bottle of red wine, but he describes himself as being “quite sober.”
At one point Cheryl-Ann had left with a load of her belongings and again returned.
By then, Kannemeyer was desperate to speak to her and he decided to carry out his plan to kill both of them if he failed to resolve the situation.
He collected some of her belongings and walked towards her car, but not before cutting a piece of webbing (normally used as a towrope), removing a knife out of a butcher’s block, and placing it in his pockets.
Kannemeyer loaded her things into the car and then opened the door on the driver’s side in a last-ditch attempt to speak to Cheryl-Ann, but she refused.
Then, in a fit of anger, Kannemeyer grabbed his wife by her throat with both hands and started throttling her, all the while asking her “Why it had to come to this.”
“I strangled her until she passed out and her neck went limp and her head dropped.
“I then tied the webbing around her neck, further throttling her. She was unresponsive at this stage as she was unconscious.
Kannemeyer pushed Cheryl-Ann over to the passenger side, parked the car under the carport, got out of the vehicle, and proceeded to look at his wife.
While throttling her in the confined space of the car, the knife he had placed in his pocket pricked his leg.
Still staring at Cheryl-Ann lying in the vehicle he removed the knife from his pocket and started to stab her.
Describing the stabbing in his own words, Kannemeyer said: “I was standing looking at her under the carport and stabbed her repeatedly all over the upper body and also in her neck, intending to kill her.
“I have no idea how many times I stabbed her but only stopped when her blood sprayed into my face.
“I stood there in disbelief looking at what I had done.”
Moments after the murder
His next move was making a phone call to his youngest son, Blake, who did not answer his phone.
Kannemeyer then left him a voice note informing him what he had done.
The next call he made was to his Pastor, whom he informed that he thought he just killed his wife and that the incident happened at his father’s house.
As he stood around he noticed the Pastor’s vehicle arrive. “He got out of the vehicle and I decided that I wanted to kill myself.
“I started stabbing myself in the upper chest area, intending to stab myself in the heart.
I can remember crying the whole time. I saw my reflection in the car windows and could see blood all over my chest.”
Before Kannemeyer could slit his throat to “end it all” he passed out and woke up in hospital.
Kannemeyer’s arrest and sentence
Kannemeyer was arrested a day after his wife’s murder, on 28 December.
At his first court appearance in the Gqeberha Magistrate’s Court, he abandoned his bail and made known his intention to plead guilty to the crime.
He made his first appearance in the Gqeberha High Court last week and was sentenced to 25 years on one count of murder, and 30 days on a charge of common assault.
Judge Ivana Bands ordered that the sentences run concurrently, which means that Kannemeyer will spend an effective 25 years in prison.
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