Web diary

Today is a very important day in the unfolding of this story. We are finally going to meet the man who handled my mother’s case back in 1989 – the elusive Jan van der Mescht. We went into town and met Capt. Boonstra and his offsider, Ferdi, in their office. We drove out to van der Mescht’s house in our van and he greeted us at the door. He seemed on-guard but made an effort to be friendly.

He kept studying the information that Boonstra had handed him – copies of the file documents that he had given me in 1989. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to tell us anything, I began to confront him with what I knew. I reminded him of the conversation he had with Supt. Miles last year and he flatly denied it. When I pointed out that I was in the office at the time of the call, he asked me if I can understand Afrikaans. When I said ‘yes’, he seemed a bit disconcerted, but still flatly denied that the conversation had occurred. He kept repeating the same thing: “I never interviewed any suspect and I never arrested anyone”.