Crime Desk
The case of British billionaire Harvey Boulter, who stands accused of murder, is in disarray after police whistle-blowers reported interference from police officers stationed in Arandis. Boulter is facing charges after a shooting incident in which his manager Gerhard van Wyk, was fatally injured on 27 February 2021 on his farm Karros. Dockets have subsequently mysteriously disappeared and one of the main witnesses, the widow Alta van Wyk, who initially claimed N$ 84-million through a South African law firm, is also missing.
The policemen who arrested Alta van Wyk at the Finckenstein Estate a few weeks ago for contravention of the Immigration Act, after finding different passports in her name, handed over documents proving that Van Wyk was arrested and brought to the Windhoek charge office after they reacted to tipoffs from members of the Outjo community about dual passports.
She since changed attorneys to a Windhoek law firm after charges of extortion and defeating the end of justice were laid by Boulter with the assistance of his attorneys. The claim of N$84 million was since reduced to N$30 million, but a mediation process collapsed.
In the meantime, Van Wyk’s attorneys confirmed receipt of a letter from Boulter’s legal representatives requesting a meeting to inform Alta van Wyk and three family members that Boulter will give notice of the intention to seek an exception to the plaintiff’s claims.
By yesterday the meeting did not take place, but in the meantime, whistle-blowers raised red flags at the Namibian Police Headquarters about instructions from a police officer in Arandis to abandon any investigation against Alta Van Wyk.
The instruction that baffled investigators as their commander was outranked and bypassed led to van Wyk spending one night in the prison cells and, after a short appearance in the Magistrate Court in Windhoek, the dockets, the charge sheet and Alta van Wyk disappeared from the radar.
The two policemen who made copies of the dockets, passports, and statements were surprised the next day when they found no trace of her, neither the dockets, nor the statements they had copied.
They now suspect that the extortion and defeating the ends of justice took the same route and was deliberately stalled without any statements of follow-ups.
According to the police, they were denied access at the Ministry of Home Affairs to her files and could only establish that her first application for Namibian citizenship was refused, and the second granted, but without giving up her South African Citizenship.
When investigators wanted to peruse the files to establish who had dealt with the application in which agents were also involved, all doors were shut on them whereafter they received the Arandis call to back off from the case.
The whole dossier is in possession of Informanté, but there is no trace or information from the police about the disappearance of dockets, while the CR number could also not be found raising suspicions that pages were torn from an incidence reporting book or that the book that is supposed to be kept under supervision disappeared altogether.
The incident that made international headlines landed Boulter under police guard for 141 days on serious charges of murder. His attorneys later succeeded in securing bail and also relaxed travel conditions awaiting a decision by the Prosecutor General, which is expected tomorrow amidst the bombshell from policemen themselves about a history of blackmail from various quarters, interference and the disappearance of dockets in cases registered against van Wyk.
The incident happened at Farm Kaross on a Saturday afternoon during a spit braai attended by Boulter, his friend Adam, the late Gerhard, his son Gerhard Jnr van Wyk, his wife Alta van Wyk, and Gerhard Jnr’s wife, Liani.
All the van Wyks were residing on Boulter’s farm at the time of the shooting.
“To the best of my recollection, at approximately 19:30, there was an unexpected and unforeseen altercation involving Gerhard Jr. and myself. During the altercation, Gerhard Snr joined in the squabble and attacked me. This astonished me as I had no idea, nor could I comprehend what had triggered this,” Boulter said.
He added that sometime during the incident, he took out his pistol with his right hand and placed it flat against his chest while covering the front part of the barrel with his left hand as a warning to father and son.
Boulter added that the late Gerhard Snr. was eventually shot when, during a scuffle for the gun, the trigger went off, piercing through Boulter’s left hand that was covering a portion of the barrel and striking Gerhard in the stomach.
Despite Boulter’s version of events correlating with the injuries he had sustained on his hand, his story was contested by the widowed Alta, who told police officers at Outjo that the Brit had pointed the gun at her late husband’s forehead. She later alleged that she wanted to retract her statement of pointing the gun as that had not happened and that she was instigated to testify to that. She also denied that she indicated that she would withdraw her statement on receiving payment of N84-million, which eventually led to the extortion charges by Boulter.
Although Boulter has never set a foot in prison as he was immediately transferred to a Windhoek private hospital for his hand injuries, he has since the fatal shooting spent a total of 141 days under police custody until he was granted bail in July 2021.
Boulter believes his wrongful arrest and lengthy custody was a result of an incorrect statement tendered by Alta.
In her initial police statement, Alta insisted that Boulter had pointed a gun at her late husband’s head. However, after attending a court hearing, the widow told family and friends that this was a false representation of events.
When approached for comment, Alta said that she did not want to speak to the press.
The case is currently with the Prosecutor General to determine whether or not Boulter will be prosecuted, and if so, which charges he will face.
Family members of a farm manager who died after a shooting incident in the Outjo district in February last year who were suing him for N$84 million dropped their demand to a staggering low of only N$30 million.
Boulter is being sued by the widow of his farm manager, the late Gerhard van Wyk, the two children of van Wyk and one of the children’s wives, for a total amount of N$84,5 million, in a case that is pending in the Windhoek High Court.
In their lawsuit against Boulter and his company SX Investments One, van Wyk’s widow, Alta van Wyk, his son, Gerhard van Wyk Jnr, daughter, Michelle van Wyk, and van Wyk Jnr’s wife, Liani van Wyk, accuse Boulter of intentionally, alternatively wrongfully and negligently, causing van Wyk’s death.
Alta van Wyk, Gerhard van Wyk Jnr and Liani van Wyk are claiming that as a result of the shooting that ended van Wyk’s life, they lost their employment with SX Investments One and the income they would have been receiving through this employment until they reached the age of retirement.
Boulter is opposing the claim against himself and the company.
Alta Van Wyk demands N$32.8 million for loss of support from her husband and N$16 million in general damages.
Gerhard van Wyk Jnr. is suing Boulter and the company for N$22.6 million. This includes a claim of N$15.55 million in respect of loss of support and N$6 million for general damages.
Van Wyk’s daughter, Michelle van Wyk, who says she was dependent on her father’s financial support while studying at the University of Namibia, is claiming N$8 million from Boulter and SX Investments One, while Liani van Wyk is claiming N$3,9 million.
Each of the four plaintiffs’ claims include an amount of N$1 million for “the intolerable living conditions” they say they are subjected to since the fatal shooting.
In a notice filed at the court this week, Boulter is demanding that each of the plaintiffs should provide N$350 000 as security for his legal costs in the event that they lose the case. The company is demanding N$300 000 in security for legal costs from each of the plaintiffs.
In the meantime, Boulter has also been exonerated fraud allegations in Cayman Islands Grand Court and Justice David Doyle CBE and additionally made an impression on the judge as an honest person.
Boulter was being sued by liquidators of medical technology company, Enigma Diagnostics for the disappearance of N$1.3 billion of investors’ money.
The liquidators of Enigma Diagnostics of which Boulter was a shareholder and company secretary alleged that he had used the company’s money for his own benefit, including a payment to a British supercar manufacturer.
Boulter made his fortune running Porton Capital, a now shuttered N$9.6 billion investment firm that raised money for venture capital style deals, media reported last year, when the case was lodged in a UK court.
Justice Doyle also said that the Enigma team did not proof that Boulter had behaved fraudulently, concluding that the allegations were “pretty flimsy,” “vague and generalised” and came “nowhere near jumping the hurdle in respect of fraud.”
Ultimately Justice Doyle found Boulter to have behaved honestly.
