Lecturer buried on day he was to retire

Goitsemang Tlhabye

PRETORIA: On the day he was meant to retire Johan de Beer, 64, will instead be laid to rest following his bizarre murder this week.

He was found murdered in a toilet cubicle at the University of Pretoria (UP), with a plastic bag over his head early Wednesday.

He was an architectural science lecturer.

His wife Coosie de Beer said from their Weavind Park home yesterday and said she had last heard from her husband of 38 years on Tuesday morning, and grew concerned when he did not arrive home at 4pm as he usually did.

“I thought he was in a meeting when he did not respond to my text message but when I called and it went to voicemail that's when I started to worry,” she said.

Coosie said after calling his colleague and could still not find Johan she asked her son-in-law to accompany her to the university to find him.

“We found his car still parked in the parking lot and when security went to check his office they found his door open, his laptop open and his phone on the charger. The security manager let us go through the video surveillance around campus and we saw him going to withdraw money at the student centre ATM.”

The video surveillance does not show where Johan went to after making the withdrawal.

“When they found him the following morning it was discovered that the R600 he withdrew was missing but his wallet, credit cards and wedding ring were still on him,” said Coosie.

She said it was heartbreaking that he was taken from them just after they had celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary on December 17.

“The people who did this have broken my heart and it will never be mended again. I can't explain how painful it's been trying to figure out how I answer my grandson who asks if his grandfather died because he was old and why couldn't they put him in another body,” said Coosie.

“My consolation now is playing on full blast the song titled, Warmer Than The Ground as he had translated it from a poem many years ago. It's from a dead person's view that people should not sit on their cold grave but instead keep them warm in their hearts and that is where I am now,” she said.

Their daughter Jaconette Brink became emotional as she said her father was everything to them.

Brink said he was her rock and would always have an answer for her if she needed his advice.

“He would move mountains (for us) and nothing could stop him when he wanted to help us,” she said.