Police are to investigate whether the French couple who were shot dead by police after being found in a building on a farm in Sutherland on Thursday were given a chance to surrender.
“It will form part of our investigation,” said police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Hendrik Swart, who said he was not present when the shots were fired.
“What I will say is that a lot of firearms were found in the house and ammunition and cartridges were also found on the scene,” Swart said.
Philippe Ménière (60) and Agnes Jardel (55) were on the run after allegedly shooting dead student constable Jacob Boleme and injuring warrant officer Glenwall du Toit, who were helping to evict them from a building on a Sutherland farm owned by Gerhardus du Plessis last week.
Du Plessis wanted to evict them after he found unlicensed firearms in their possession.
Four policemen arrived at the property last Friday with a warrant to search for the weapons.
A week after a manhunt began for the couple police found them in a derelict building on another farm in the area.
The farm was overrun by police and journalists after what was described in reports as “a shootout”.
Police said notes on the Ramtha School of Enlightenment were found alongside medical supplies, emergency packs and survival guides in the couple’s farmhouse.
Among the doctrines of the Ramtha school, to which the couple belonged, is that murder is not evil if one believes in reincarnation, according to a Wikipedia entry.
According to information emailed to the Mail & Guardian by the organisation this week, the school was started in 1988 by Judy Zebra Knight, a 64-year-old American who claims to be the sole channel for a 35 000-year-old “spiritual entity” named Ramtha.
Knight claims that Ramtha, a warrior from the continent of Limuria, first contacted her in 1977.
The organisation believes that Ramtha’s teachings are a “unique science” which allow followers to experience “concepts of reality”. Telepathy and quantum physics are presented as key concepts to be learned by devotees.
Sutherland community members claimed in reports this week that the French fugitives had paranoid fears about the end of the world and believed they would have to fend for Âthemselves in the bush.
The Ramtha School of Enlightenment failed to respond to questions from the M&G about whether it knew of the couple, or whether they had signed up as members of the organisation.
The couple, who had lived in the area for 12 years, were found barricaded inside the property.
“We received a call from the farm owner, who spotted movement at the house,” said Swart.
Police believe the couple had been at the house for about two days. Prior to that police believe the couple had been hiding in the nearby veld.