On Monday, during the continuation of Vicki Terblanche’s estranged husband’s, Arnold, bail proceedings, many new and shocking details were revealed in the Prot Elizabeth Magistrate’s court.
Thus far both Arnold Terblanche (55) and Reinhardt Leach (32) are continuing with their bail applications whilst their co-accused, Dylan Cullins (24) is not applying for bail at this stage.
Vicki’s estranged husband dubbed as the mastermind behind her murder
With recent details coming to light, the State has labelled Arnold Terblanche as a “narcissist” who was behind his estranged wife’s murder.
One year before Vicki’s murder, she tried to commit suicide due to being verbally, emotionally and physically abused by Arnold Terblanche. It was further revealed that one of his previous wives – he has been married three times – was also admitted to a psychiatric hospital. And this is allegedly due to abuse from his side.
Terblanche wanted Vicki to seem “unfit”
According to the affidavit, Terblanche did everything he could to make Vicki’s life difficult and wanted to portray her as an “unfit mother who was addicted to drugs”.
Vicki, however, reportedly underwent four drug tests during the divorce proceedings and all of them came back as negative.
Furthermore, it was revealed that Terblanche had multiple extramarital affairs and even placed his assets into the names of family members and his current girlfriend – who is still married to someone else. He did all of this in order to “diminish his financial profile” so he could avoid paying maintenance for Vicki after she filed for divorce last year December.
Colonel Kanna Swanepoel also read into the record that Terblanche had allegedly bribed an 18-year-old family member to make an affidavit that says that he received drugs from Vicki. Terblanche reportedly bribed the teenager by buying him a car and threatening his father’s job.
Terblanche then used this affidavit, which was filed on March 3 2021, to be appointed as the primary caregiver of the son that he shares with Vicki. And on March 25 Vicki also filed a claim to be the child’s primary caregiver.
As a result, an interim High Court order determined that Terblanche and Vicki would have joint custody of the child as the case was still pending.
This meant that Terblanche had to pay Vicky the following per month:
- R18 000 for maintanence
- R3 500 for maintenance for their son
- R1 250 for water and electriciy
Terblanche also had to rent a property for Vicki which she shared with Leach and also pay for her car insurance and WiFi.
“Terblanche was becoming progressively more agitated with the fact that the deceased would not agree to a divorce on his terms.
“He went as far as to offer a family member of the deceased R50 000 in cash to convince the deceased to agree to the divorce, but the deceased was not prepared to give up custody of their son,” the affidavit read.
Reinhardt Leach’s betrayal to Vicki
Not only did Leach pretend to be in love with Vicki while spying on her and reporting back to Terblanche, but he is also involved in the abalone industry and runs a criminal enterprise.
According to the affidavit, multiple messages was sent and calls were made between Leach and Terblanche.
Leach apparently saw Vicki as a “cash cow” and might be a drug addict as dagga and Tik were found in his car when he was arrested.
Details of Vicki’s murder arises
Leach recruited Cullis and another accomplice to “assist with the murder”. And the day before her murder, Leach told Terblacneh to get him a fast car and “ysters” (firearms).
On the evening of October 18, Leach allegedly crushed a large amount of Percocet tablets and mixed it in with a fizzy drink and gave it to Vicki. And after feeling like she was going to be sick, Cullins took her to lie down and turner her on her side. It was then that Leach proceeded to suffocate her.
The accomplices left Percocet tablets in the house to make it seem that Vicki was an addict. However, after elaborated schemes to get someone to enter Vicki’s house so that they can see she was “off the rails”, Terblanche’s plan failed.
“Unfortunately, for the accused, this plot was thrown out the window when Cullis decided to point out the shallow grave where the deceased was buried.”
The men went go-carting whilst Vicki’s body was still in the car
According to Swanepoel’s affidavit, Cullis and another man changed her clothes as she urinated at the time of the murder.
“The next day, they allegedly wrapped her body in the bedding from the spare room, loaded her into the boot of a BMW vehicle and as they explored various options to get rid of the body, including setting it alight, to dumping it at a municipal waste site, a witness was approached to get rid of the body, but refused. Meanwhile, Leach, Cullis and the implicated man allegedly went to ride go-carts at the William Moffett Centre, leaving Vicki’s body in the vehicle.”
Thereafter, Leach recruited someone from Greenbushes to dig a “big hole” and paid him in cash. This was where Vicki’s body was dumped on October 20, 2021.
