The Springs House of Horrors

I grew up in a very close-knit, loving family. My husband, on the other hand, likes to joke that his dad was so good at playing hide-and-seek that they didn’t see him for several years. There are also some things about his childhood that make my blood boil, but he grew up to be a good, decent, hardworking man, a supportive husband, and a loving dad.

Still, sometimes he doubts himself and his ability to be a good father to our children. Of course, due to my work on this channel, we have different definitions for “bad parenting”. His idea of a bad parent is someone who isn’t there when his children need him, who neglects them physically and emotionally, and who isn’t able to support them financially. My idea of a bad parent…well. Just, don’t fuck up your kids, okay?

The case of the Springs House of Horrors is one of the worst examples of bad parenting that I’ve ever heard of. It’s a mixture between Josef Fritzl and the case of Fred and Rose West – just without the murder. It made international news headlines at the time and is still known as one of the worst cases of child abuse ever encountered in South Africa, and the children involved in this case are still living with the consequences to this very day.

So brace yourselves, people. This is going to be a bad one.

Tomato Jam Times

In the years since the details of what happened in the Springs Horror House were brought to light, the two eldest children have come forward and publicly identified themselves. The rest are still minors, and their biological parents have never been named, so we’ll be using pseudonyms for them.

The man who would become known as the Springs Monster was born in the East Rand in Johannesburg in 1978. We don’t know where, or who his parents were, and we don’t even know his name, so let’s call him Richard. (My apologies to all the decent Richard’s out there.)

We do know that Richard was one of three children. Their father was an abusive drunk, and the three children often ran away from home when they realised that their father was in one of his ‘moods’. Their mother, on the other hand, did her best to protect her children from him, and Richard adored her.

We know that Richard didn’t do well in school, that he dropped out of high school when he was 16, and that he met his future wife in 1996. Let’s call her Christene. She had brown hair, was skinny, and had a high-pitched voice. She had dyslexia, and her eldest daughter would later explain that Christene wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Her friends and family had nicknamed her “Kraai” (pronounced ‘cry’), which is Afrikaans for “Crow”, and the nickname stuck.

Christene’s father had passed away when she was 11, and within a few months, her mother remarried and virtually abandoned her children. Christene went to live with her older sister and met the dark-haired and handsome 17-year-old Richard when she was 16, and not long after, the two of them got engaged. One of her cousins would later explain that shortly after their engagement was announced, they were at a family get-together, and Richard and Christene were arguing.

Then Richard grabbed her, pulled her over his knee, and gave her a few whacks as punishment. I don’t know why the family didn’t get her away from him then and there, but it is possible that they still believed that it was his right to discipline his future wife.

Anyway, not long after they were engaged, Christene dropped out of school and moved in with Richard and his parents. But his father was still enormously abusive, so Richard and Christene did their best to stay out of his way whenever possible.

Richard and Christene were married in January 1998, and shortly thereafter, their eldest daughter, Yulandi, was born. Richard wasn’t able to keep a job, and for the first ten years or so of Yulandi’s life, they lived in a caravan and travelled all over the country.

In or around the year 2000, Richard and Christene were visiting family when they were notified that there had been a shooting incident at Richard’s parents’ house. Turns out that his mother had had enough of her husband’s abuse, so she’d shot him and then turned the gun on herself. She passed away at the scene, but her husband survived the attack, and the loss of his mother reportedly hit Richard hard. According to his brother-in-law –

“His mother only wore short skirts and dresses. She loved high heels and had blonde hair…After she died, he started insisting that [Christene] should start wearing short skirts and high heels like his mother used to wear…My sister has brown hair, but he insisted that she should start bleaching her hair.”

Yulandi was five when Herman was born. In the book, “House of Horrors” by Susan Cilliers, Yulandi explains that by the time Herman turned four, there had been a visible shift in their family dynamics. Christene had never been very affectionate towards her daughter, but she doted on her little dark-haired boy. According to Yulandi –

“I’ve seen how other kids’ mothers play with them, but my mother never plays with me. I manage by myself. I dress myself, get my own food and treat my own aches and pains when I hurt myself or when [my father] beats me. [My mother] will sometimes hold [Herman] and give him a hug, but she never does that to me. I don’t know why. She probably loves him more than she does me.”

Yulandi wasn’t the only one who noted how affectionate Christene was towards Herman. Richard had noticed it too, and he grew jealous of his wife’s relationship with their son. So much so that Richard would severely punish the little boy for the smallest indiscretions, and if Christene tried to intervene, she was beaten as well. So, at some point, Christene stopped defending her children and would just stand and watch when Richard punished them.

Yulandi explains that she attended school until she was 9, but after she failed the third grade, her father told her that she would no longer be attending school because there were ‘monsters’ out in the world, and it was his job to protect his children against them. So, they packed up their caravan and moved to a new city, and when Yulandi was 10, they moved into a rental house in Springs on Johannesburg’s East Rand.

In 2009, Christene gave birth to another daughter while they were living in the rental house. At the time, Richard had managed to secure a job as a second-hand car salesman, and Christene and the children would accompany him to the office during the day. When the baby was a year old, Richard and Christene bought a double-storey, 8-bedroom house in Springs.

Yulandi explains that she doesn’t know exactly how her father was able to finance the house, but he filled 6 of the bedrooms with tenants, and later he’d allow more people to live in caravans and wooden Wendy houses on the property. He also started buying scrap metal and storing it in the backyard, and he and Christene would sort through it and sell the most valuable pieces for extra money.

Shortly after they moved into the Springs house, Richard told the 13-year-old Yulandi and the 7-year-old Herman that they now had to stay home during the day. They weren’t allowed to play outside during school hours, and it was now their job to clean the house and prepare dinner while Richard and Christene went to work. Christene was already pregnant with her fourth child, and she left her 1-year-old daughter in Yulandi’s care. From that point on, the baby was Yulandi’s responsibility. According to Yulandi –

“It was super hard, because she was the first one [I had to raise]. I wasn’t used to it. I didn’t know what exactly to do, but it was so nice to have a little sister, to wash her hair and change her nappies. She was actually an easy child; she developed fast and learned new things in no time.

She quickly stopped drinking from a bottle and wearing nappies. I took her to the toilet maybe twice and said: ‘When you go to the toilet, you pull down your pants and go.’ She was very independent and, thereafter, she went by herself every time.”

Another sister was born not long after they’d moved into the Springs House. She’d been born prematurely and had some developmental issues, and by the time she was 5 months old, she was also placed in Yulandi’s care. The youngest baby, a boy, was born in 2012. He was just a week old when Christene put him in his crib and left for work. Once again, the 14-year-old Yulandi became responsible for her baby brother’s care.

“To this day, I don’t know how I managed to raise my younger sisters and baby brother. I just did what I thought was right. Everything I knew I learned from watching TV: how to prepare food, what the kids should eat, how to look after them and how to keep the house clean. So I ended up spending most of my time in the big Springs house with my younger brothers and sisters. They were afraid of [our father] and knew [our mother] would not help them.”

In the mornings, Richard and Christene would leave for work, and Yulandi and Herman would dress their younger siblings and change the babies’ diapers. Yulandi would then get breakfast ready, while Herman and the younger kids made themselves at home in front of the television. The younger kids would spend most of the day in front of the television while Yulandi and Herman cleaned the house as best they could, and when their parents returned home at around 5 pm, Yulandi had to start getting dinner ready. After they all ate, Yulandi would get the younger ones ready for bed, and then they’d all go to their shared bedroom, where they slept on two single-bed mattresses.

Once the children were in bed, Richard and Christene would start their sex games. Yulandi explains that it usually involved Richard chasing a screaming Christene through the house. She’d beg and plead with him to leave her alone, and then he’d corner her and she’d submit to him. Sometimes they would still be dressed – sometimes not.

Sometimes one of the sex workers who rented a room in the house would ‘play’ with them, and other times, Richard would be brandishing a knife or another weapon to ensure that Christene didn’t resist him for too long.

And then there were the parties. Richard and Christene would host weekly parties at night for their tenants and some of their friends, and they’d have Yulandi serve them. She had to pour their drinks and bring them food and snacks, and she was also responsible for selling them drugs like heroin and crystal meth. Yulandi explains that she was required to join them when she was just 12 years old, and when she was 14, she fell asleep during one of these parties, and her father gave her some crystal meth to help ‘wake her up’ so that she could continue serving them.

She also explains that her father always took pride in his appearance. He was clean-shaven and regularly had his dark hair trimmed, he was always neatly dressed in expertly pressed button-up shirts and drove a Toyota Fortuner. He’d also set up a personal gym in the house and regularly exercised, and at some point, he started using anabolic steroids to help enhance his build.

Christene was also expected to always look her best. She regularly had her hair bleached, had her nails done, wore expensive makeup, and was always dressed in the revealing outfits her husband insisted on. And whenever she bought herself new clothes, her old ones would be passed down to Yulandi. Their children, on the other hand, were mostly left to fend for themselves.

“New clothes were a luxury that we maybe received at Christmas and on birthdays. Sometimes the family sent something. [My mom] and I wore the same clothes – mostly scanty outfits – that were completely inappropriate for me at that age. The younger kids sometimes received second-hand clothes from some of the tenants.”

Every now and then, Richard and Christene would go away on holiday for a week or two. When the children were younger, a relative would come and live with them, but by the time they moved into the 8-bedroom house in Springs, Yulandi was left in charge. Before they left, Richard would give Yulandi an allowance of R50 a day, which she had to use to buy food, diapers, and formula for the babies. Then Yulandi had to do her best to make that R500 or R700 last until their parents got back from their holiday.

And to just give you an idea of how crazy that is – a pack of 96 diapers cost anything between R200 and R500. A 1.8kg can of formula is R300. A brown loaf of bread is around R16. A bag of pasta is R36.

A 1L bottle of milk is R22. Just the diapers and formula would be R500, and wouldn’t be enough to last 2 babies two weeks. According to Yulandi, they mostly had to make do with bread, 2-minute noodles, pasta, and the canned food that were left in the cupboards. But they weren’t allowed to leave the house and she didn’t even know where the nearest grocery store was, so she often had to ask their live-in gardener to go and buy groceries for them.

When Richard and Christene were home, they’d sometimes have takeaways for dinner, and on weekends, they’d have a braai. Whenever family members came to visit or when it was Christmas, Richard would buy them snacks and chocolates and soda, and Christene would make salads to go along with the meat they’d braai that day. Their dad would play with them and throw them in the pool, and they’d pretend to be just like any other family. But then their family members would return home, and Christmas would be over, and Yulandi and the other kids would once again have to make to with pasta and bread for dinner.

“Nobody made a fuss about birthdays in our house. If we were lucky, we were congratulated early in the morning. A cake was an exception and the chances of a gift were slim. My siblings and I never experienced something like a birthday party, with friends yelling and shouting, never had fun with balloons or plenty of sweet things and goodies.”

But Yulandi also explains that she treasured the ‘tomato jam days’. Every few months, her parents would return home with brown sugar, ginger and tomatoes and Richard would declare that they were going to make tomato jam.

“By now I know that cooking tomatoes is one of the few things in our home that starts well and ends well.”

“I’m not afraid of this other dad at all; he’ll never hit me for no reason. He’s patient, asks about my day and tells me how his day went.”

“I’m not at all worried about doing anything wrong or that he’ll explode. My tomato jam dad is calm, cheerful and loving.”

But the ‘tomato jam days’ never lasted long, and most of the time, life in the big house in Springs was hell.

The House of Horrors

Yulandi explains that while they lived in the big house in Springs, they mostly acted like the children they were. They left dishes lying around, and sat cross-legged on their father’s expensive leather couches. They often got bored of watching television all day, and in the afternoons they’d sneak outside to play for a bit before their parents got home.

The younger children took permanent markers and drew scribbles on their mother’s high-heeled shoes, and they turned their bedroom into their own trampoline arena by jumping on their beds. Yulandi and Herman fought and chased each other around the house, and then they’d make up and return to being the responsible ones when the younger children woke up from their naps.

But as soon as Christene called to let them know that she and Richard were on their way home, anxiety would pool in their stomachs. Like all abused children, Yulandi and Herman were able to discern what kind of mood their father was in before he entered the house, and if he seemed to be in a bad mood, they’d take the youngest children up into their bedroom and lock the door to keep them safe.

Anything could set him off – there were dusty children’s footprints on his leather couches, the house hadn’t been cleaned to his satisfaction, dinner wasn’t ready, or his bath water was too cold. He’d also set up cameras throughout the house, and some days he’d watch that day’s footage and make note of anything the children had done that displeased him – like watching too much television to his liking, or not appearing on any of the cameras for an extended period of time.

At one point, Richard became convinced that the police suspected him of dealing drugs, and that they were watching the house. He appointed a guard to monitor their gate and ordered Herman to watch the screens during the day and report any suspicious behaviour. Herman was maybe 8 or 9 at the time, and he got bored, so at some point he switched one of the screens over to a kids show. When Richard found out that Herman hadn’t been watching the footage like he’d ordered him to, he threw one of the television screens at him.

According to Yulandi –

“We never just got a hiding; we were always assaulted. Fortunately, [our father] didn’t really assault the three younger kids. But he would grab anything he could lay his hands on to throw at [Herman] and me…”

“Sometimes, because we knew him well, we could see it coming – we could see it in his manner and in his eyes. And when he wanted something immediately and started counting back from ten and we didn’t give it to him by ‘one’, there would be hell to pay.”

Yulandi explains that he’d punch and beat them, kick them in the face, or throw furniture or his dumbbells at them. He had an electric cattle prod that he’d use to shock them, and he’d chase them around the house and shoot at them with gas-powered pistols (aka, airguns). Sometimes he’d order Yulandi and Herman had to get in the bathtub, and Richard would then shock them by touching the bathwater with his cattle prod.

He’d also shove their heads under the water, and hold them there until they were close to drowning. On other occasions, he’d lock them up in a cupboard and burn them with a blowtorch, burning their hair off and scorching their skin.

On one occasion, a 20-something family friend lived with them for a few weeks, and Yulandi and Herman got into trouble because they’d hadn’t emptied the vacuum after they’d used it to clean the lounge. When Richard asked his friend how he should punish both Yulandi and Herman for not emptying out the vacuum, the ‘friend’ suggested that they should waterboard the two kids. They did, and then Richard ordered the two kids to clean up the mess they’d made in the bathroom. That was the first and last time he waterboarded them.

Herman and Yulandi did what they could to shield their younger siblings from their father, but every now and then Richard would lash out at them as well. On one occasion, he grabbed one of the younger girls by her leg and dragged her up the stairs before he dropped her on the bed. He kicked their other sister in the face when she didn’t want to eat her dinner, and he once grabbed their 2-year-old brother by his legs and threw him against the pool table when he wouldn’t stop crying.

“Now and again I threw an ashtray or something at Pa to divert his attention when I saw he was going to grab one of the little ones. Then he would come for me. Even though my brother and I were still so young and small, we used our bodies as a shield because [our mother wouldn’t intervene].”

According to Yulandi, Christene would cry whenever Richard punished them, but she never stepped in to stop him. She’d just stand there and watch, but whenever she tried to tell Richard that he shouldn’t hurt the children, Richard would tell her that she’d better shut up, or he’d do the same thing to her. After all, the children weren’t his only victims.

“[My father] punched [my mother] with his fist, and beat her and kicked her wherever he could reach. She always sort of tried to get away and would half-heartedly beg him to stop. They could fight about anything, such as when he complained about the food. When she didn’t bring the food fast enough or it wasn’t cooked exactly as he wanted it, he would toss it against the wall or throw it at her and start beating her.”

“Sometimes [they argued] because the house was dirty, or, in his opinion, she had done something wrong. All she said, every time, was, ‘I’m sorry, my love.’ When he got mad because she didn’t clean the house, she would answer in her high-pitched voice, ‘But I am with you all the time.’ This was true, because [my father] was always jealous and possessive. He completely dominated her.”

Yulandi explains that things got worse whenever Christene refused to have sex with Richard. Then he’d beat her and find reasons to punish their children as well, but shortly after Yulandi’s 16th birthday, Richard started turning to his daughter for sexual gratification. For almost a year, he molested her and forced her to perform oral sex on him – all while Christene and the children were downstairs or in the next room. Then he’d leave the room, and Yulandi had to dry her tears and clean herself up, and remind herself that she had to put on a brave face because her brothers and sisters needed her.

“The isolation in which we lived meant that we could rarely compare our lives to those of others. When I saw on TV that people live differently, I thought it was only like that on TV. It wasn’t reality.”

“This was the first time that I realised that there was something wrong in our house. I was so scared …[I thought] he was going to take everything away from me.”

“My foster mother once asked me why I didn’t run away…Why would I? I thought that was just how things should be. I didn’t think about running away at all."

"Help Me!”

The 13th of May 2014 was a Tuesday. They hadn’t made dinner since Richard had told them that he felt like takeaways instead, and around 9 pm, he started looking for his keys. Earlier that day, he’d ordered the 10-year-old Herman to lock the gate that led to their backyard, but Herman couldn’t remember where he’d put the keys afterwards.

The whole family spent several minutes looking for the keys, but Richard was growing impatient. He told his family that he was going upstairs, and when he came back down, they better have his keys, or there’d be trouble. He went upstairs, and when he came back a few minutes later, they still hadn’t found the keys.

According to Herman –

“I then heard a voice in my head that said ‘It’s time to run away’.”

Herman fled from the house and hid in the back yard. Richard decided to take Christene’s car instead, so he left to buy dinner, and Christene, Yulandi, and the three younger kids started calling out to Herman to let him know that it was safe to come home.

But Herman wasn’t convinced. When Yulandi found him hiding behind one of the many Wendy houses that stood in the backyard, Herman jumped over the wall and ran to their neighbours’ house.

It was around 10:30 pm, and the family was already in bed when their dogs started barking. Hennu Venter and his 18-year-old daughter Charné both made their way to the lounge to investigate. It had a glass sliding door that led to the backyard, and outside the door stood a little boy. He had bloody scratches on his stomach, hadn’t bathed in a few days, his body was covered in scabs and bruises and old scars, and despite the freezing winter temperatures, he was only dressed in a pair of sleeping shorts.

According to Hennu Venter, when they unlocked the door and slid it open –

“The boy fell into the house, went down on his knees and folded his hands together. He begged us not to phone his father and say where he was, because he was going to kill him.”

Shar-nay took the boy to her bedroom and gave him two of her hoodies to wear. He told her that his name was Herman, that he lived next door, and that the bruises on his body were from the beatings he got from his dad. They took him to the kitchen and gave him a blanket and something warm to drink, and when they heard his father bellow his name, the boy burst out in tears and told them –

“Help me, please!”

Hennu and his wife Hanlie would later explain that they had no idea what to do. They knew that the neighbours had at least one child since Christene had been pregnant when they moved in, but they’d never seen them. Richard seemed pleasant enough whenever they drove past each other on their way to work, but they also knew about the parties he hosted, and they’d seen how he mistreated his employees. The last thing they wanted to do was send the little boy back to an abusive home, so they called some people for advice and tried to get ahold of Childline, an organisation that offers counselling and child protection services.

“A family member told us to send him back to his parents because we could be accused of kidnapping a minor. We were scared, but we had to let his parents know where he was.”

Then there was a knock at their kitchen door. A blonde teenage girl and a reed-thin woman were standing outside, and the teenager told them that she was there to collect her little brother. But Herman refused to go with them. His mother grabbed him by the arm and tried to drag him outside, but Herman pulled away and clung to Hanlee, begging her to keep him safe.

Then his father arrived, and he grabbed the boy’s arm, hit him over the head, and dragged him towards the door. The Venters couldn’t do anything to stop him. The woman stepped forward and apologised for her son’s behaviour, explaining that he was just naughty before she also disappeared down the driveway, and the Venters heard Herman scream as he was taken away. According to Hanlee –

“I didn’t sleep that night. I couldn’t stop thinking about that little boy.”

Yulandi would later explain that she and Christene had to watch on as Richard beat Herman for running away. The noise woke the younger children, but they hid in their bedroom until after Richard had gone to bed.

Yulandi cleaned Herman’s wounds and had to cut his dinner into little pieces so that he could eat something. They made a bed in the lounge, and they all curled up next to each other for comfort that night – even Christene, who went to lie down next to Herman so that she could keep an eye on him.

The next morning, Herman’s entire face was bruised and swollen, and the hoodies that Shar-nay had given him were covered in blood. Yulandi had to help him get dressed and eat breakfast, and she was just about to start cleaning the house when their guard came to notify Richard that there were people at the gate. Christene went to see who it was, then came back inside and told Richard that the police and people from Child Welfare were at the gate.

Richard ordered Christene to let them in, then grabbed Herman and dragged him out of the room. According to Herman –

“He threw me into the swimming pool to wash off the blood so that the dogs wouldn’t be able to smell me. We had a bunch of tenants living in the backyard, and there was a garden flat with a garage. He took me there and hid me in the roof. I was in there for two days.”

Hanlee would later explain that as soon as she got to the office that morning, she called Springs Childcare and told them about Herman and everything that had happened that night. She told them that she was concerned about his safety and that she was convinced that he’d been beaten for trying to run away.

Within an hour, two members of Springs Childcare and several police officers arrived at the House of Horrors. Captain Rudi Jansen was the Investigating Officer, and he would tell a local newspaper that –

“The house was filthy with rats running around everywhere.”

Jolene Fouché was working as an Auxiliary Social Worker for Springs Childcare at the time, and she would later tell Susan Sill-Year that the entire house smelled like something had died in it. The entire house was a mess. There was a rumpled ‘camping bed’ in the middle of the lounge, and piles of clothes and shoes covered almost every surface. An expressionless Yulandi stood in the middle of it all, her 2-year-old brother on her hip, while her 5-year-old and 3-year-old sisters hid behind her.

Jolene and the police told Christene that they’d received a complaint about their treatment of their eldest son, and they trailed Christene as she made her way through the house. The kitchen looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, and there was barely any food in the cupboards.

In the children’s bedroom, they found the two single mattresses that the children slept on, as well as a dead rat lying in one corner. Tiles were falling off the walls in the outdated bathrooms, the sinks, bathtubs and toilets were either broken or cracked, and empty syringes littered the floor in the master bedroom. The police would find several pornographic videos and sex toys in the built-in wardrobe, and Richard would later explain that the syringes were for the steroids he used. Jolene would later note that there wasn’t a single children’s toy in sight.

Based on all they observed, Jolene and the police decided that they had enough reason to remove the children from the house. Captain Rudi Jansen called for the necessary legal documentation that would enable them to take the children to a safe house. But Herman was nowhere to be found, and Jolene and Captain Rudi prayed that they hadn’t been too late to save him as well.

Yulandi and the other children were taken into care, but Jolene explained that it was easier said than done. Richard tried to keep the children from getting into her car, then followed them to the Springs Childcare Centre in his Toyota Fortuner. He tried to force Jolene’s car off the road, and once they reached the Childcare Centre, the police had to keep him busy while Jolene slipped away with Yulandi and the three youngest children, and took them to a nearby safehouse where they all received some proper food and clothing.

Richard and Christene later reported Herman as missing, and on the 23rd of May 2014, Richard was arrested on charges of abuse, defeating the administration of justice, attempted murder and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Christene was also taken in for questioning, and she eventually told the police that she and Richard had taken Herman to his sister’s house in Warden, a small town in the Free State province. His brother-in-law would later explain that –

“It was bitterly cold when my brother-in-law and his wife arrived here in the night with the child. The child was [paralytic] and would not speak. His face was swollen and he had two black eyes. He could scarcely open his eyes. The child’s eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks were bruised. His right ear had a deep cut. His body was so bruised, it was difficult to touch him.”

Richard told his sister that Yulandi and Herman had gotten into a fight, and that Herman had to stay with them for a while until things cooled down at home. But they saw the bruises to Herman’s body, and they knew that there was no way in which the skinny, 16-year-old Yulandi could have beaten her brother like that.

The next day, Herman’s aunt and uncle were taking him to a local doctor when the police arrived and told them that they were looking for Herman. He was then reunited with Yulandi and his siblings, and finally received some much-needed medical care. Christene reportedly went to live with her older sister, who would later tell journalists that Christene was terrified of being alone, that she woke up screaming, and that she only wanted her children back, but that she refused to tell them exactly what she and her children had been through.

Then the news about the Springs House of Horror broke, and Richard became known as the “Springs Monster”. Family members came forward to make excuses for Richard, explaining that yes, he was a strict father, but he wasn’t abusive. They all knew that Christene was a drug addict, and she knew just which buttons to push to cause Richard to lose his temper. They all knew that the children didn’t go to school, but that was because they were too “slow” and had to be homeschooled.

Besides, every time they went to visit them, the children seemed happy. They weren’t locked up in the house. They were allowed to play outside and swim in the swimming pool. Nothing wrong with that.

Most of their neighbours explained that they hadn’t even known that Richard and Christene had children. Some of his business associates explained that they knew that he had some financial troubles, but they were surprised to find out that Christene was Richard’s wife. Their gardener explained that he knew that his employer regularly beat his wife and children, but he didn’t want to lose his job, so he didn’t say anything.

And one of their tenants, a 20-year-old woman named Zelda, told a local newspaper that they knew that Richard abused his wife and his children and that she’d sneak the kids some bread whenever she saw them. But also she knew that if she tried to interfere, he’d do the same to her.

“I was afraid of him. I’m still afraid of him. I am prepared to make statements to the police now, but I know we should have said something a long time ago.”

The Springs Monster

A lot happened in the months following Richard’s arrest.

He was denied bail and reportedly attempted to take his own life. Christene had initially agreed to become a witness for the State, but after she retracted her testimony, she was also arrested and charged with several counts of child abuse and neglect. She was let out on bail on the condition that she wasn’t allowed to have contact with either Yulandi or Herman, and then the 35-year-old Christene applied to divorce the bastard who’d been abusing her since she was just 18 years old.

Their trial kicked off in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on the 18th of May 2015, and was heard by Judge Eben Jordaan. Both Richard and Christene were charged with multiple counts of child abuse, child neglect, defeating the administration of justice, attempted murder, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, and several charges for drug possession. They also faced charges under the South African Schools Act for not sending their two eldest children to school, and Richard faced additional charges for the sexual assault of Yulandi.

Christene pled not guilty to all of the charges against her, and her attorney told the court that Christene was as much a victim of Richard’s abuse as the kids were. Richard also pled not guilty, but in his plea explanation, he admitted to punishing Herman for running away that night, but claimed that he’d only hit him once. He also denied sexually assaulting Yulandi and claimed that he’d only touched her vaginal area on one occasion.

However, at the time, he was under the impression that Yulandi wasn’t his daughter since his wife had several affairs over the years. He’d since been corrected of this assumption since DNA tests proved that all five of the children belonged to him and Christene.

Hannu Venter was called to the stand, and he explained what happened that night after Herman had knocked on their sliding door. Captain Rudi Jansen described what they’d found when they first entered the House of Horrors, and one of the tenants told the court how Richard had brought Herman to their apartment, and then ordered them to hide him away in the roof. Herman’s head was initially wrapped in a towel, and Richard had claimed that he’d beaten Herman for losing his Fortuner’s keys, which would have cost up to R8000 to replace (that’s $447). She explained that they hid Herman away because they’d been terrified of Richard, but that they didn’t know that the police were looking for Herman until the news of the House of Horrors broke several days later.

Sandra van Moerkerken, the social worker who is in charge of ensuring the children’s welfare, explained that when the children first arrived at the Springs Childcare Centre, they were badly bruised, dirty and undernourished. They were all small for their age, had missing and rotting teeth, and all had to receive extensive dental work since the teeth they did have were brittle from malnourishment.

Yulandi was the only one whose birth had been registered with the Department of Home Affairs, and she was the only one who’d received some level of schooling. Herman and the youngest girl both had learning disabilities, and the youngest children were all severely traumatised and didn’t trust adults. The two eldest children had no interest in having any contact with their mother, and the youngest children didn’t see her as a mother figure at all and ignored her whenever she came to visit. When they did speak of her, they referred to her as “Auntie Kraai” (Auntie Cry).

“The children were taught to keep quiet and were not to make any sounds. When they dared to tell visitors anything, they didn’t get food, were shot with a gas pistol, shocked with a stun gun or cuffed. Some of the people close to the family who did realise something was amiss simply did nothing.”

Herman and Yulandi both testified against their parents, but they were allowed to deliver their testimony via a video call. Herman was the first one to testify, and he was presented with a file that contained photos that had been taken of the Horror House shortly after his father’s arrest.

Herman was now 13 years old, and he was able to describe a scene of abuse or torture for almost every photo in that file. He explained how all the children used to sleep on two single-bed mattresses. He told the court that whenever his father was home, he barely slept at night. When his father left for work in the mornings, Herman would crawl into the storage space underneath the stairs and fall asleep there, since it was the only place in the house where he felt safe.

He explained how he and Yulandi did their best to shield the younger kids from their father, but that his father didn’t need an excuse to snap at or punish them. He’d beat them with anything he could lay his hands on, but he preferred whips, shocking them with cattle prods, and shooting them with air guns.

He recounted how he’d once been turned into a “human hammock”, and how his father had strung him up between two pillars that separated that lounge from the entertainment room. His father had used handcuffs to bind his hands and feet together, then used rope to tie him to the pillars. He then doused Herman’s body in water, and put fans on him to cool him down. Herman explained that it was the middle of winter, and he was freezing.

He begged his father to let him down, and as a further punishment, his father sprayed pepper spray in his eyes.

Herman explained that his father once threw a small television screen at him, and that it tore a hole out of his ear. His mother was allowed to take him to a hospital for stitches, but the queues were too long, and she was afraid that she’d get into trouble if they didn’t return to the house, so she took him back home and put a Band-aid on his ear to stop the bleeding. He still had the hole in his ear.

Herman also explained that while Yulandi acted as their mother, Christene did nothing to help them. She didn’t try to intervene, she didn’t stand up to their father, and she didn’t try to protect them. She was always their father’s shadow, and if he told her to jump, she did.

He also told the court that after they’d left the Venters’ house that night, his father threw him to the ground, sat down on his chest, trapped Herman’s hands under his knees so that he couldn’t fight back, and then started hitting him in the face. He told the court that once the police arrived, his father threw him in the pool to clean the blood from his body, wrapped him up in a towel, and took him to a garden flat they rented out. He told the tenants to hide him and to keep quiet, and left Herman there for two days.

He only checked up on him once and brought Herman a meat pie and a bottle of soda to drink. Then his parents took him to his aunt’s house in Warden, which is where the police later found him.

Richard’s defense attorney tried to argue that the then 10-year-old Herman had been a rebellious and arrogant little boy, and that his descriptions of the kinds of punishment Richard doled out were exaggerated. The attorney also claimed that Richard only shot Herman with an airgun on one occasion and that it was only because Herman had arrogantly claimed that his father wouldn’t be able to make the shot. Like that made it perfectly acceptable.

In response, an emotional Herman loudly said – “He must stop lying!” – and then pointed out that his body was covered in scars that proved just how badly his father had beaten him.

18-year-old Yulandi’s time on the stand was just as brutal. She told the court that she never realised just how abnormal their home life was. She explained how she’d failed the third grade, after which her father refused to send her to school because the world was full of monsters, and he wanted to protect them.

She explained how she had to start taking care of her younger siblings when she was just 12 years old, and how they weren’t allowed to leave the house or play outside during school hours. She explained that they had a safe word – “Peaches” – that they had to use whenever someone from social services or the police came to the house. If they heard anyone say it, they had to take the youngest kids and hide out in the backyard until their parents came to fetch them.

Yulandi’s accounts of the abuse and torture they’d suffered matched Herman’s, and she went on to explain that the little ones were just as likely to be beaten up by their father. She also told the court about the sexual assault she suffered at the hands of her father, and how he took certain measures to ensure that Christene and the other children didn’t find out what he was doing to her – like locking the bedroom door and assaulting her while everyone else was downstairs watching television, or taking her on a drive to a secluded street so that they could be alone.

But Richard’s defense attorney once again claimed that Yulandi was lying. In fact, Yulandi wanted her father to pay attention to her, and she went out of her way to dress promiscuously so that she would draw her father’s attention.

He also presented three statements to the court – one Yulandi made shortly after they were rescued, one she made shortly after her father’s arrest, and another one she made in preparation for the trial. There wasn’t any mention of sexual assault in the first two statements, and the defense attorney claimed that it was proof that no sexual assault had taken place.

But a tearful Yulandi was steadfast and told the court that her father had sexually abused her. She explained that after they were taken away, she didn’t want her father to get into trouble, so she didn’t mention it. But then she went for a medical evaluation, and based on the bruising on and injuries to her vaginal area, the doctors were able to confirm that she’d been molested, but that no sexual penetration had taken place. She then claimed that she had done it to herself, but when the doctors didn’t believe her, she claimed that there were two boys who’d tried to have sex with her, and then hurt her when she told them no.

It took her months to come to grips with what her father had done, and she was only able to admit to it after she received counselling and started to understand that it hadn’t been her fault.

A psychologist named Marina Genis would later testify that it wasn’t unusual for Yulandi to deny that any molestation had taken place – in fact, up to 79% of abused children would deny that they’d been sexually assaulted as well in an effort to protect their parents.

“You have to remember that they’re her parents. She doesn’t have anyone else. She was dependent on her father and liked him more because he paid attention to her. But it doesn’t mean that she didn’t harbour any [anger or resentment] towards him.”

She also tried to explain the dynamics of the family who lived in the House of Horrors, and told the court that she met with the children and Christene shortly after Richard’s arrest. She told the court that Richard was the “man of the house” and a tyrant, confirmed that Christene was just as much a victim of her husband’s abuse as the children were, and that for some time after they were rescued, both Christene and Yulandi blamed Herman for running away that night. Christene even told her that Herman was a naughty boy and that it was his – “stupid actions” that had resulted in her children being taken away from her.

Then it was Christene’s turn to face the court. The prosecution tried to prove that she was an active participant in everything Richard did by explaining that for the first year after his arrest, she regularly visited Richard in prison. They also read out some of the letters she wrote him. They’re not very substantial, and they all seem to say the same thing –

“I love you very much my sexy. You mean everything in my life sexy. I will never ever leave you sexy. I send you a kiss my sexy. PS: I love you sexy. Forever and always my sexy.”

But Christene told the court that she hadn’t known that Richard was sexually assaulting Yulandi. The first time she heard about it, was shortly after his arrest when the results of Yulandi’s medical examination were made public. She admitted that yes, she’d left her children in Yulandi’s care from a young age, and that she didn’t have any kind of relationship with them.

She also claimed that Yulandi and Richard had been close and that Richard had ordered Yulandi to let him know whenever Christene put a foot out of line. As such, she lived in a constant state of anxiety and always felt like she had to walk on eggshells around not only Yulandi, but her husband as well.

Christene explained that when Yulandi and Herman were little, Richard used to threaten to hurt or beat them if she didn’t agree to have sex with him. When she refused or she tried to stand up for them or herself, he took his anger out on the children. She was entirely dependent on him, and the few times she did try to take both Yulandi and Herman and escape, Richard would track her down, promise her that he’d never hurt her or the children again, remind her that he loved her and needed her, and that she had no one else but him.

At first, her family convinced her to go back to him, but when she showed up on their doorstep with two kids in tow and a black eye, her cousin called the police. However, Richard told her to lie to the police, and that she had to tell them that the black eye was a result of all the “kinky” sex they had.

“He stood behind the police and showed his fist to me and told me he will hit me if I said anything to the police.”

After Herman turned five years old, Richard became convinced that she was cheating on him. After that, he refused to let her out of his sight. She was always with him, day or night, and he controlled everything she wore and ate and did. He wanted her to dye her hair blonde, he wanted her to wear long artificial nails, and he wanted her to wear skimpy clothing and tons of makeup.

He often called her things like ‘skank’ and ‘whore’, accused her of having affairs with random people they met while they were out shopping, and after the children went to bed, he would sexually abuse her.

Christene explained that he forced her to watch hardcore porn with him, and then he’d try to recreate the sex scenes with her. Her pain only gave him pleasure, and he enjoyed hurting and torturing her. Sometimes, he’d chain her up, or handcuff her to the pool table in the entertainment room, and then leave her there all night. He’d beat her and slap her, and he once stabbed her with a knife while he was chasing her around the house. She had to go to the hospital to get stitches.

He ordered her to start using drugs like heroin and crystal meth because he believed that it would make her more willing to have sex with him, and it wasn’t long before she was addicted to it. He also regularly hosted sex orgies at their house and then ordered her to perform for him. Sometimes he’d have their friends sexually assault her because the sight of it turned him on. And Christene agreed to all of it because she desperately wanted her husband to love her back.

Christene spent the majority of her time on the stand crying, and when she was finished, Judge Jordaan told her –

“Ma’am, it was a long shift, but now you’re done.”

Forensic Criminologist Dr Pixie du Toit would tell the court that Christene was a poster child for both Battered Wife syndrome and Stockholm Syndrome, and that –

“Her love for her husband was a pathological over-affection that left her without initiative, confidence or a sense of responsibility. This is why she didn’t meet her motherly obligations, such as cooking and looking after the children. [Christene] believes that everything that happened in the house was her fault, that it’s what she deserved and that she has failed [her children].”

Dr du Toit also explained that Christene had refused to care for her children in an attempt to protect herself.

“She regressed to an earlier development phase to escape from her circumstances. She regarded her children more or less like dolls and as they grew older and, according to her, caused problems, she withdrew from them and no longer took responsibility for them.”

Then the prosecution called Forensic Psychologist Bronwynn Stollarz to the stand. She explained that she’d evaluated Richard while he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after his arrest, and that she’d determined that he was both a psychopath and a sadist –

“[Richard] has no insight into the severity of his deeds, lacks remorse and blames others, including his children, for the violence and sexual assault he was convicted of inflicting on them.”

She explained that yes, he’d suffered an abuse childhood, and claims that he’d even been molested as a child. Richard also told her that he’d loved his mother, and whenever his father hit her, Richard did his best to protect her. When she died, he became convinced that his father had murdered her. He continued to have a relationship with his father, but he never forgave him for shooting his mother, despite the fact that she’d been the one who shot his father, and then turned the gun on herself.

Richard’s family members had all testified in court that they’d seen an improvement in him since his arrest, and that he’d since ‘found God’ and had started his own little bible study group in the prison.

“He feels he’s found the Lord and by extension, his kids should want a relationship with him.”

But Stollarz told the court that there is no world in which Richard could ever be rehabilitated, and if he was ever released from prison, he’d still be a danger to those around him, because –

“Sadism is a character trait and it will not go away.”

The trial lasted for three years, and once all the evidence had been presented to the court, Yulandi and Herman’s victim impact statements were read out. In her statement, Yulandi explained that she’d since moved on with her life. She now had parents who loved her and she finally understood exactly just how bad things in the House of Horrors truly were. But despite everything she’d been through, she’d been able to forgive her father for everything he’d done.

In his statement, the 15-year-old Herman explained how much he still hated his parents for what they’d done to him.

“[My father] never loved me. I wish I could get another surname because I don’t want anything to do with him. I don’t want to be his son. I wish there were people in jail who can hurt him like he hurt me. I wish they could also burn him with a blowtorch, beat and shock him with a stun gun so that he can feel how much he hurt me. Sometimes, when I look at the scars he gave me, I hate him. He must never get out of jail.”

“I don’t love my mother, she never loved me. She never tried to stop him or help me. She didn’t even cry when he assaulted me. I think a lot about how I don’t feel normal or can’t be normal. Sometimes I get mad and I just want to hit things. I know it’s wrong, but all of this just makes me so, so very mad. It’s her fault that I had to go live with so many other people and that I got hurt so much.”

On the 16th of August 2018, Judge Eben Jordaan read his judgement to the court. He summarised the evidence that had been presented to the court and explained that he understood that Christene was as much a victim of abuse as her children were.

“She was a defenceless victim of circumstances. The two eldest children testified that she was also assaulted, so she couldn’t intervene. I accept she was an abused woman and unable to stop him. She is therefore found not guilty of child abuse.”

However, despite her claims that she did her best to be there for her children, the evidence and Herman and Yulandi’s testimony counted against her, so she was found guilty of the five charges of child neglect since –

“…it was her motherly duty to care for the children.”

Richard was found guilty of all of the charges made against him, and he was sentenced to a total of 67 years in prison. Christene, on the other hand, only received a suspended sentence of five years, and once the trial was concluded, she was free to go.

Yulandi sat in court that day and watched as her parents were sentenced. She’d later tell a local magazine that she’d felt oddly conflicted that day – she felt that they deserved what they got – and more! – but she also missed her “tomato jam” dad and just wanted to go over and give him a hug.

But in the end, Yulandi left the courtroom before the media realised who she was, and went back home.

A Silver Lining

I don’t really know how to end this script, so I’ll leave you with some good news.

Following their sentencing, Christene moved on with her life. She cut her hair and dyed it brown again. She started wearing clothes that she’d chosen for herself and had been court-ordered to receive counselling, so I’m assuming she got the help she needed.

She also got married to one of Richard’s cousins, and from all accounts, they’re happy. She even had another baby with him. I don’t know whether or not she still has contact with her other children, but I do know that Yulandi and Herman don’t have contact with her. However, she’s claimed on multiple occasions that she wants to be a part of their lives again.

In an interview with a local magazine in July 2019, the 39-year-old Christene explained that –

“I am sorry I ever met [Richard]. I don’t know why he exists. I hate him. When I opened my mouth to say something, my eyes were closed. He always said he didn’t want a fat wife. He will never have me again. Not after what he did to me and our children.”

The days following Yulandi and her siblings’ rescue from the Springs House of Horrors were the beginning of their journey to recovery. Their social worker, Sanet van Moerkerken, did her best to ensure that Yulandi and her siblings got to stay together. They went to live with one of their maternal aunts, but one day she called Sanet in tears and told her that her uncle was molesting her and one of her cousins. The children then spent the next few months being bounced around different foster homes, until they all ended up in a children’s home.

The two youngest children have since been placed with foster families, and they’re doing well. The middle sister feels safe in the children’s home and has informed her social workers that she doesn’t want to be adopted because she’s scared that she’ll end up with another abusive family. Her dream is to live with Yulandi someday.

Herman was able to find a loving family. Their social worker, Sanet van Moerkerken, adopted him and ensured that he received all the support and love and encouragement he needed to make a success of his life. In 2023, he told the actuality program, Fokus, that -

“I’ve forgiven [my father], but it doesn’t mean that I want him to be a part of my life.”

For years, Herman has been told that he’s a hero, but he doesn’t see himself as a hero. According to Sanet –

“He told me the other day that he did at least one thing right – his sister passed matric [with distinction]! Landi and I told him that he is in fact a hero, because he had the courage to flee that night. Which eleven-year-old child who cognitively functions at a lower age level will make such a decision to seek help? Incredible. He may not have realised it there and then, but his instinct has resulted in him saving the lives of his whole family.”

Herman adjusted well to life outside the House of Horrors. He likes going to the gym, playing basketball and swimming, and he does Park Runs every Saturday. Because of his learning difficulties, he’s been enrolled in a technical college so that he can learn some practical skills, and he wants to become a mechanic one day.

According to Yolandi, Herman still has some trouble when it comes to his literacy levels.

“He gets extra lessons, but it’s hard for him and he often still gets emotional. He believes he’ll never be able to get a job or have a family because he still struggles with reading and writing. My brother thinks he’s dumb, but I keep telling him he’s not. I send him WhatsApp messages that force him to read. When he sends me messages, I help him to correct his spelling. My brother still hurts about a lot of things, but he is not so aggressive anymore.”

When Yulandi was 18, she was adopted by the Kroucamp family, and she’d later explain that for the first time in her life, she had real, loving parents who gave her all the love and attention she deserved, and who supported her in everything she does. They also ensured that she received the counselling and support that she needed, and she was finally able to forgive her parents and move on with her life. But she still sees herself as her younger siblings’ caregiver and visits them regularly.

“I miss my brothers and sisters. I’m sad that I’m missing out on all their milestones – their first loose tooth, their first day at school, and I wanted to teach them how to read.”

“I miss holding my little brother in my arms and to see him sleeping, knowing he is okay. I still love the little ones so much; they are cute and full of jokes. Even though I didn’t give birth to them, they still feel like my own children. I wish I can do more for them, give them more.”

“[Everything I do], I do for my brothers and sisters. Every decision I make is for them. I have to ensure that I’ll be able to be there for them one day, that they can go to university and be okay. I’m the oldest, I’m the example. I want to show them that you don’t have to take life lying down.”

According to her adoptive mother, Mariette –

“The only reason why Landi is where she is today at all levels in her life is because she made the right choices every time.”

Yulandi also believes that life is about making the right choices – about choosing to be better and to want better for yourself.

“People tend to just accept their circumstances and their past and they come to believe that they can’t achieve anything in life. But your trauma doesn’t define you. You’re a lot more than the labels people give you.”

Key Takeaways

• The Springs House of Horrors was one of South Africa’s worst child abuse cases, where Richard and Christene abused their five children for years.
• Eldest daughter Yulandi, starting at age 12, was forced to raise her younger siblings while enduring physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from her father.
• Ten-year-old Herman’s escape to neighbors in May 2014 triggered police intervention, leading to the children’s rescue and Richard’s arrest.
• Richard was sentenced to 67 years in prison; Christene received a suspended five-year sentence for child neglect after being deemed an abused victim herself.
• Both Yulandi and Herman have since been adopted into loving families, with Yulandi excelling academically and Herman pursuing technical training.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Springs House of Horrors case and why is it considered one of the worst cases of child abuse in South Africa?

The Springs House of Horrors is a case of extreme child abuse that made international news headlines and is still known as one of the worst cases of child abuse ever encountered in South Africa. The case involved a father known as the ‘Springs Monster’ (Richard) and his wife (Christene) who subjected their five children to years of physical abuse, neglect, torture, and sexual abuse in their home in Springs on Johannesburg’s East Rand. The children involved are still living with the consequences to this day.

How did Herman escape and trigger the rescue of the children?

On May 13, 2014, when Herman was 10 years old, his father Richard became angry because Herman couldn’t find the keys to the backyard gate. Richard threatened punishment and went upstairs. Herman then heard a voice in his head saying ‘It’s time to run away,’ fled the house, and hid in the backyard. When his family called for him to return, he jumped over the wall and ran to the neighbors’ house, the Venters.

He appeared at their sliding door with bloody scratches, scabs, bruises, and old scars, wearing only sleeping shorts in freezing temperatures. He begged them not to phone his father and pleaded ‘Help me, please!’ The neighbors eventually contacted Child Welfare, leading to police intervention and the children’s rescue.

What methods of torture and abuse did Richard use against his children?

Richard used numerous methods of torture and abuse against his children, including: punching and beating them, kicking them in the face, throwing furniture or dumbbells at them, using an electric cattle prod to shock them (including while they were in bathwater), chasing them and shooting at them with gas-powered pistols/airguns, shoving their heads underwater until near drowning, locking them in cupboards and burning them with a blowtorch (burning hair off and scorching skin), waterboarding them, stringing Herman up as a ‘human hammock’ between pillars with handcuffs and rope, dousing him with water and putting fans on him in winter, and spraying pepper spray in his eyes. He also sexually molested Yulandi and forced her to perform oral sex on him for almost a year.

What role did Yulandi play in caring for her younger siblings?

Yulandi became the primary caregiver for her younger siblings from a very young age. Starting at age 12, she was responsible for raising her baby sister born in 2009, including washing her hair and changing nappies. She later cared for another prematurely born sister with developmental issues from 5 months old, and a baby brother born in 2012 when he was just a week old. Yulandi dressed the children, changed diapers, prepared breakfast, cleaned the house, made dinner, and got the younger ones ready for bed.

She learned everything from watching TV. She and Herman also worked to shield the younger children from their father’s violence, sometimes using their bodies as shields.

What were the outcomes of the trial for Richard and Christene?

The trial lasted three years and concluded on August 16, 2018. Richard was found guilty of all charges against him, including child abuse, child neglect, defeating the administration of justice, attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, drug possession, failing to send children to school, and sexual assault of Yulandi. He was sentenced to a total of 67 years in prison.

Christene was found not guilty of child abuse because the judge accepted she was an abused woman unable to stop Richard. However, she was found guilty of five charges of child neglect and received a suspended sentence of five years, after which she was free to go.

What happened to the children after they were rescued from the House of Horrors?

After rescue, the children faced a difficult journey. They initially went to live with a maternal aunt, but Yulandi reported being molested by her uncle, so they were moved to different foster homes before ending up in a children’s home. The two youngest children were later placed with foster families and are doing well.

The middle sister chose to stay in the children’s home, fearing adoption into another abusive family, and dreams of living with Yulandi someday. Herman was adopted by their social worker Sanet van Moerkerken, received support for his learning difficulties, enrolled in a technical college, and wants to become a mechanic. Yulandi was adopted by the Kroucamp family at age 18, received counseling, passed matric with distinction, and remains deeply connected to her siblings.

What psychological conditions were diagnosed in Richard and Christene?

Forensic Psychologist Bronwynn Stollarz evaluated Richard and determined that he was both a psychopath and a sadist, with no insight into the severity of his deeds, lacking remorse, and blaming others for his violence. She testified that sadism is a character trait that will not go away and that Richard could never be rehabilitated. Forensic Criminologist Dr Pixie du Toit testified that Christene was a poster child for both Battered Wife syndrome and Stockholm Syndrome, with a pathological over-affection for her husband that left her without initiative, confidence, or a sense of responsibility. Dr du Toit explained that Christene had regressed to an earlier development phase to escape her circumstances and regarded her children more or less like dolls.

What were the ‘tomato jam days’ that Yulandi treasured?

The ‘tomato jam days’ were rare positive moments in the children’s lives when Richard would come home with brown sugar, ginger, and tomatoes and declare they were going to make tomato jam. During these times, Richard became a different person—calm, cheerful, patient, and loving. Yulandi described this version of her father as her ‘tomato jam dad’ who would ask about her day, tell her about his, and never hit her for no reason. She wasn’t afraid of doing anything wrong or that he would explode.

However, these days never lasted long, and most of the time life in the house was hell.

How did Richard control and isolate the children?

Richard controlled and isolated the children through multiple methods. He removed Yulandi from school at age 9 after she failed third grade, claiming there were ‘monsters’ in the world he needed to protect them from. The children were not allowed to leave the house or play outside during school hours.

They had a safe word—‘Peaches’—that they had to use when social services or police came; they would then take the youngest kids and hide in the backyard. Richard installed cameras throughout the house to monitor them. When he and Christene went on holiday, Yulandi was given only R50 per day to buy food, diapers, and formula for multiple babies, and she didn’t even know where the nearest grocery store was.

The children were also taught to keep quiet and not make sounds, with punishments including denial of food, being shot with gas pistols, shocked with stun guns, or cuffed if they told visitors anything.

What was Christene’s background and how did she become involved with Richard?

Christene, nicknamed ‘Kraai’ (Afrikaans for ‘Crow’), had brown hair, was skinny, had a high-pitched voice, and had dyslexia. Her father died when she was 11, and within months her mother remarried and virtually abandoned her children. Christene went to live with her older sister and met Richard when she was 16 and he was 17. Shortly after their engagement was announced, Richard publicly spanked her at a family gathering as punishment during an argument.

She dropped out of school and moved in with Richard and his abusive parents. They married in January 1998. Christene was described as not being ‘the sharpest tool in the shed’ and became completely dominated by Richard, who controlled what she wore, ate, and did, eventually forcing her into drug addiction and participating in sexual abuse.

Sources

• Original Casual Criminalist video: The Springs House of Horrors
• Hero image source by Adbh266 / openverse, by-sa.

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