Victims’ families say double killer Boomgaard ‘must be locked-up forever’

THREE psychiatrists from Sterkfontein psychiatric hospital rejected claims by double murderer Zaheera Boomgaard that she “hears voices” in her head and according to them, she is psychologically sound to face her punishment.

- ZELDA VENTER

Boomgaard, 62, was back in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Friday following a stint in the psychiatric hospital. She is due to be sentenced at this stage for the deaths of two elderly people, both in their 70s. They are Jamnadas Harkant Nathvani, a British national whose body was badly burnt, as well as that of her friend, Lynette Mustapha, whose body was also badly burnt.

She met Nathvani on an online site and he came to South Africa to visit her. Mustapha and Boomgaard meanwhile met at church.

Both bodies were found near a road in Walkerville within a few months of each other. Indications are that both were killed elsewhere and that Boomgaard dumped them next to the road before setting them alight.

She was acquitted of a third murder - that of John Naisby, who went missing in 2012 after visiting Boomgaard. His body was never recovered, and his family eventually had him declared to be presumably dead by a court.