GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS -Jan Bam (77) was sentenced in the Oudtshoorn Regional Court to 15 years direct imprisonment on Tuesday 4 October following the murder of the 26-year-old Elsie Cornelia Fritz in November 2018 in Murraysburg.

Preliminary investigation at the time revealed that the unknown body of the deceased was found in an open field, in a pit hole in the ground. 

The body was already in an advanced stage of decomposition.

The autopsy confirmed that the deceased probably died due to multiple stab wounds to the right side of her neck.

Attempts by the investigation officer to trace the family led to the identification of the deceased.

A thorough investigation by detective constable Federick Macpherson, assisted by information from the community, led to the subsequent arrest of the accused at his house in Murraysburg.

The Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, has welcomed the hefty sentences that were imposed on the accused.

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