“Massive cover-up?” Daughter of Mooi River couple ‘for muti gender’ speaks out by Ronelle Snyders

[Nat Quinn]

“Massive cover-up?” Daughter of Mooi River couple ‘for muti gender’ speaks out

A gruesome confession claiming that her parents were murdered and cut up for muti still haunts Kate Anderson as the suspects in the Mooi River couple’s case continue to enjoy their freedom.

This after Anthony (73) and Gillian Dinnis (78), originally from Kent in the United Kingdom, disappeared without a trace from their farm in KwaZulu-Natal’s Mooi River area on 30 August last year.

A distraught Anderson, the daughter of the British couple, shared her pain and frustration in an interview with Rapport this week.

“My parents were slaughtered. They were old, defenseless, and only had each other. Who does such a thing to people?”

Anderson packed her bags and rushed from Cape Town to her parent’s farm when she received the disturbing news that the retired couple had disappeared. She told Rapport that when she arrived at Dinnis’ cattle and vegetable farm, their half-finished plates and glasses of fruit juice were still on the kitchen table.

Their four dogs – one of them extremely confused – wandered aimlessly at her father’s Land Rover. Anthony’s wallet was still in the room.

“They’re gone, like strange creatures took them,” Anderson said.

Seven days after their disappearance, SMS messages in isiZulu were sent from Gillian’s mobile phone to one of her four brothers, Sam Dinnis, demanding a ransom of R2 million.

“To make things easy, just pay R2 million in this bank account number if you want to see your parents again,” reads the message (translated from isiZulu).

The bank account number was that of her mother.

According to Anderson, the family then requested police to allocate more resources to intensify the search.

However, when she asked that her mother’s phone be watched, police reportedly told her that they only had one grab device and that it was being used in another case.

When she asked a helicopter to help, she was told two of their three helicopters had crashed and the third one was broken.

Anderson said the couple’s gardener was mentioned several times in her father’s diary.

Since cellphone reception in Middle Rest is very poor, Anderson and her daughter told police there would only be two places where the text messages could have been sent from — from the community farm or the church.

This led police to locate the missing couple’s gardener at the church on September 16 – with Gillian’s SIM card in his own phone.

The Citizen had earlier reported on disturbing evidence that surfaced at the Mooi River Magistrate’s Court during the bail hearing of one of the suspects – 22-year-old Lungelo Mkhize – on March 19.

In an affidavit filed with the court by Detective Adjutant Officer Johannes de Lange, the second suspect, who was the couple’s gardener, allegedly admitted to police that he was one of three men involved in the kidnapping.

“He also indicated that they went to the Dinn residence and took a brush cutter, chainsaw and a TV. He revealed that the other two men were armed with firearms. They then left with the couple and went to another residence, where they killed the couple,” De Lange said in court.

According to the suspect, they then cut off some of the couple’s body parts, which they planned to sell for muti in Johannesburg for R50 000.

His bail was successfully opposed at his bail hearing, and he appeared in court several times. However, on June 13, 2024 this year, the charges against him were withdrawn, and he was released.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara told Rapport on Friday that the charges against him had been withdrawn due to “insufficient evidence”.

Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Simphiwe Mhlongo confirmed on Friday that police had initially arrested two suspects. They were not charged and were released after questioning. One was later arrested again.

Mhlongo added that the investigation is still ongoing.

Anderson told Rapport that she had read the statement of the suspect who claimed that her parents’ bodies had been chopped up and sold for muti to a sangoma in Johannesburg.

“My question is also: Where is the sangoma?”

Anderson revealed in the interview that many reliable sources told her that the second suspect claimed police assaulted him.

According to the couple’s daughter, she feels the case is “messed up.” She said the police officers grew up in the area and may be afraid of stirring things up too much.

“Is there a massive cover-up?” she asked, adding that the police officers in the area grew up and may be scared because of the muti demands.

Anderson said she sent emails to the Hawks and other stakeholders, begging them not to drop the investigation. She also approached AfriForum’s private prosecution unit.

According to Afriforum’s spokesperson, Barry Bateman, they sent a letter to the Hawks in Pietermaritzburg on 12 April to keep the missing Mooi River couple’s family informed of the state of the investigation.

Bateman told Rapport that the unit would monitor the process and intervene if necessary.

 

 

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