The Griekwastad Farm Murders

Deon Steenkamp farmed Naauwhoek, a property near the small town of Griekwastad in South Africa’s Northern Cape. He lived there with his wife, Christel, their 14-year-old daughter, Marthella, and their 15-year-old son.

On Good Friday, April 6, 2012, the teenage son arrived at the Griekwastad police station that evening with blood on his face and hands and said attackers had struck the farm. Officers found Deon, Christel and Marthella shot dead inside the farmhouse. Investigators concluded that the son had raped his sister and then killed all three with two of his father’s guns, a .357 Magnum revolver and a .22 rifle kept in the family safe. Blood-spatter experts testified that the pattern on his T-shirt, which also tested positive for gunshot residue, placed him near Marthella as the shots were fired, and DNA under Marthella’s fingernails pointed to a struggle with him.

Judge President Frans Kgomo of the Northern Cape High Court in Kimberley convicted the son in March 2014 of the three murders, the rape of his sister and defeating the ends of justice. In August 2014 he was sentenced to 20 years. A parole board in Upington approved his release in December 2025, but after a review ordered by Correctional Services Minister Pieter Groenewald, the national parole review board overturned that decision in June 2026.