The Suitcase Murder. (Tasmoord)

Suitcase Murder

On the 19^th of January 2010, the police in strand arrested a young woman on suspicion of Murder. The body of pianist Alfriede Weich(65) was found in a Suitcase under her bed in her apartment in Kusweg Strand.

Angelique Cilliers was arrested for murder when she opened the door of Alfriede’s apartment and failed to give the police answers as to the whereabouts of the owner of the apartment. Cilliers was also a suspect in a murder investigation that was opened earlier the week, after a man from Table View was found dead in his apartment.

This breaking news story caught the imagination of the public, how could such a beautifull  young woman in her early twenties murder two people in less than a week?

The headlines of the daily newspapers ran the story of the Suitcase Murder and once Angelique failed to appear in court on the 22 of January, her first appearance, more questions was raised in the murders of Alfred Weich and Winston Ferreira (49).

All the papers turned to Table View and the Questions surrounding Ferreira’s death.

At court on the 22 of January, my collegue, Colin Hendricks and I, managed to find an address of the family of the accused Cilliers and we decided to pay the family a visit.

Under the circumstances, Angelique’s mother, Bernadine, did not want to speak to the media and a family friend opened her doors to us.

We were shocked to learn  that Angelique was a prostitute and heroin addict.

Colin and I  decided to follow her footsteps in the streets and brothels in Bellville. Our investigations into her life lead us to a Gentlemen’s club. By chance we found her Stepfather that was a plumber at the club. We caught him off guard and he told us Angelique’s whole life story, without hesitation…

The story that unfolded was a touching and tragic story of a drug addict who was failed by the system. A young girl that was brutally raped by three men and left to die when she was 16.

Zoe, as she was known by her clients, was a beautiful young prostitute and Winston Ferreira a rich friend from Dubai, one of her regular clients, according to her stepdad.

Angelique’s life was spend in an out of rehabs and prison. She was a patient in various rehabilitation clinics. She was also placed in the Infamous Noupoort rehabilitation centre, where she escaped.

Angelique’s self-destructing habits and ways led to the murder of Alfriede Weich and death of Winston Ferreira. Sadly, before she could answer questions about her involvement in the double murder investigation, she committed suicide in Polsmoor Prison. She hanged herself with her white scarf.

I believe that a stroke of luck and good investigative journalism lead to the stories that was published by Colin and I. The person behind the murders came to life . The sad life story of the beautiful young woman, the beauty queen, prostitute and heroin addict changed many people’s perceptions about drugs, addicts and prostitution.

An NGO was founded in her name and  Director Revel Fox is planning a documentary film based on the life of Angelique Cilliers. Both of us, Colin and I, plan to be involved in the project.

I hope that our work in regards to this very moving story would show the desperation of some people that fall into the trap of addiction and that awareness would be created to help people that are struggling with and fighting this deadly monster.

I was moved by this tragic story.  I believe that  Angel’s story would change many lives. It is a tragic story of a normal family who lost their beautiful daughter because of addiction. In our society today, there are many families living with the problem of addiction and stories like these will help people cope and definately teach people valuable life lessons.

Front page Rapport

A drawing from Angel's Diary

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