The gruesome death of the owner of Pofadder Hotel; Leon Brits has been linked to his wife.

Brits was a successful and popular businessman who was well known in the area. He was married to Suretha, 31, and they had three young children – a girl and twin boys.

The couple had been together for more than 20 years and they enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle, owning several properties across South Africa.

During the week, they lived in Kakamas, where their children attended school. It was about 110 miles from Pofadder but the couple was hands-on with the hotel – and that’s where they were on the morning of 7 October.

While they were working at the busy hotel, Leon took a call from a worker who was at one of his properties in Pofadder. They requested that Leon come over and shut his dogs away so that the house could be cleaned.

Leon left the hotel. It should have been a quick task, but he didn’t return. He also didn’t answer his phone when his wife called and there was no reply to any messages left.

Suretha went over to the property at around lunchtime to see if her husband was still there. She searched the rooms and eventually found him dead – floating in the indoor pool.

He’d been attacked and stabbed multiple times and been strangled with a dog chain. After being subjected to the deadly assault, he’d been dragged to the pool and thrown in.

Valuables had been stolen, including firearms, a mobile phone, gold coins, cash, and even diamonds.

News of Leon’s death shocked the community. The number of home invasions was escalating in South Africa and they often involved extreme violence.

Politicians were concerned that the gruesome killing would tear apart the close-knit neighborhood, which was renowned as friendly and laid-back. Rumors started to circulate about who might have murdered Leon on his property. The assumption from the start was that he had been targeted because of his wealth. But he had been deliberately lured to the house – why hadn’t the attackers struck when it was empty?

There was also talk of problems that Leon was having with workers stealing from the hotel. Had he confronted one and paid the price?

Suretha was now a widow and the community rushed to support her. She was left with three young children to raise and a business to run.

Police combed the scene for evidence to bring Leon’s killer to justice. Within weeks, they started to make some arrests – Amantle Bareki, 24, and Enrich Williams, 34, were both facing charges.

A 37-year-old man called Jacques Van Vuuren was also accused.

Locals were pleased that there were people in custody, but when Van Vuuren turned state witness, he had some shocking revelations that would rock the community.

His confession led to Suretha’s arrest in March 2021. She was at the family home in Marchand, Kakamas, when officers came to her door early in the morning to take her into custody.

She was charged with murder, aggravated robbery, and perjury, and bail was denied. The development came as a huge surprise but an explanation quickly followed.

At the end of March, Van Vuuren pleaded guilty to murder, aggravated robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm. After his plea deal, he admitted being part of a plot to kill Leon but said he did it because Brits, who he considered a family friend, had been “constantly pestering” him since September 2020 to carry out her “dirty work”.

Van Vuuren said that Brits told him that Leon had assaulted her, that their marriage was abusive and that he’d been having an affair with another woman. She had also told him that divorce wasn’t an option because Leon had threatened to take custody of their children and “take everything” from her. She had asked Van Vuuren to find hitmen to kill Leon.

The fee for carrying out the murder was 400,000 rand (around £18,000) and a diamond ring was worth 125,000 rand (around £6,000).

Van Vuuren didn’t want to commit the murder himself so he allegedly asked Williams for help, who then allegedly recruited Bareki.

But Suretha was behind it all. Van Vuuren said she wanted Leon murdered with the scene to be “staged” to look as though there had been a robbery.

He was to get half the payment upfront, which she arranged to be in cash, and she would pay the rest when the job was done.

Van Vuuren said he’d agreed to help because he felt like his life was in danger if he didn’t – but he had hired the other men because he didn’t want to be involved in the act.

Van Vuuren had stolen weapons during the robbery and while he insisted he hadn’t been present at the time of the murder, he had heard it “was not easy to assassinate” Leon as he had fought back bravely while being attacked with knives, a club, and the dog chain.

Following the assault, Leon’s mobile phone was destroyed.

The phones the attackers used to communicate with Brits, along with the weapons used and clothes worn during the murder, were set on fire and the money was split between them.

After turning the tables on Suretha, Van Vuuren expressed remorse at his involvement.

He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, five of which were suspended. He got 15 years for robbery and three years for the firearm charge. The sentences will run concurrently, so he will serve 20 years behind bars.

The revelations were shocking to the Poffader community. Leon’s killing hadn’t been a random attack on a wealthy man.

It hadn’t even been a labour dispute. He’d been murdered because his wife had wanted him dead. Suretha was called the “mastermind” behind Leon’s murder.

In November 2021, Suretha’s trial for murder, robbery, and perjury was about to start when she admitted to murdering her husband. This shock confession saved Leon’s family from the trauma of a trial.

Suretha pleaded guilty to one count of murder and one count of robbery with aggravated circumstances. Her legal team confirmed she wasn’t forced into making submissions about her role in the planning of the murder.

While there was no proof of the abuse that Suretha said she had suffered, the judge said it still did not lessen the seriousness of the crime or make it “any less horrendous”.

“The offenses were planned and premeditated. It must be considered in view of the prevalence of violent crime in this country. The deceased was lured to his home, a place where he had the right to feel safe, whereafter he was brutally killed,” she said.

The judge added that the couple’s children would have to grow up without their parents and that was tragic. Suretha was sentenced to 25 years for murder and 15 years for robbery, which will run concurrently.

The alleged hitmen, Bareki and Williams, still await murder, robbery, and firearms trials because Suretha’s admittance of guilt delayed their cases.

In exchange for a wad of cash and a diamond ring, Suretha had her husband ambushed and murdered most horrifically.

Tragically, the wealth Leon had created with his wife helped to pay for his gruesome end.

What a tragic end to a beautiful life!