Sedgefield was shocked to the core on Saturday 2 February when news broke of the murder of Noreen Hampson, a well-known Sedgefield resident of Marigold Street. In a scene fraught with violence that erupted in the normally quiet Marigold Street, it took huge efforts by Public Order Police and SAPS members armed with rifles and rubber bullets, as well as a number of the COP and Neighbourhood Watch volunteers to bring down and incarcerate the man who was responsible. He has been identified as Sean Kelly (50), also a Marigold Street resident.

The following is an account of the events as they unfolded according to witnesses who were on the scene.

It was just after 6 o’clock in the evening when the alarm was raised by a neighbour who first alerted the police and then the community policing team, saying that the lady at No. 16 Marigold was being attacked. The caller recognised the attacker as Sean Kelly.

The first responders (volunteers of the local community policing team who have requested that their names be withheld) got to the scene within five minutes and found the victim lying face down inside her property. SAPS had not yet arrived.

One of the team’s first aiders assessed her, quickly realising that although she was alive, her injuries were exceptionally serious. The Fire Department was immediately contacted via radio, with a request to urgently send their emergency first aid response vehicle and to call for an ambulance and SAPS to attend the scene urgently.

The response vehicle arrived and the medics began assessing the victim whilst the community policing volunteers proceeded to cordon off the area.

Then suddenly all hell broke loose.

Sean Kelly rushed out of his property and attacked one of the community policing team members who was parked nearby, striking him on the head with what was described as some sort of long shafted hammer. There was much shouting as chaos ensued, with two other volunteers running towards the attacker to try and ward him off.

Kelly retreated back into his home, only to reappear moments later, shouting a tirade of abuse and once again wielding his hammer. This time he made a rush for the medics who were still trying to assist the victim. When they fled in all directions he zoned in on one of the team, chasing him around the fire vehicle, before stopping to smash its windows and those of other vehicles.

According to witnesses, the man seemed determined to stop anyone from helping his victim. Being unarmed, they all had no choice but to retreat and watch him as he started pulling equipment out of the fire vehicle, still shouting and swearing.

Then SAPS arrived, but this did little to calm Kelly down. He stormed out and attacked another community policing volunteer who was sitting in his vehicle, striking him with several blows and smashing the car’s windscreen. He then made off back into his home.

The chaos continued unabated over the next hour as Kelly kept dashing in and out of his property, swinging several different weapons and attacking the vehicles of those on the scene.

As the public heard of the commotion, curiosity brought them out into their gardens, and frantic messages had to be sent out to WhatsApp groups, urging everyone to stay indoors.
“It really was a dangerously volatile situation,” one of the volunteers later said.

Meanwhile, an ER24 ambulance had arrived, but paramedics were unable to get to the victim as Kelly continued threatening harm and wielding his weapons. Eventually, SAPS fired warning shots, which sent him into hiding long enough for the paramedics to reach the victim. Unfortunately, she had already succumbed to her injuries.

The Public Order Police and several more SAPS members arrived at approximately 19:25, whilst Kelly was inside his house. Moments later he charged out onto the road, swinging yet another home-made weapon at the uniformed men. They opened fire with rubber bullets, hitting him several times. He dropped to his knees briefly, then stood up and retreated back inside.

But this time he was followed by the police – with riot shields to ward off his blows.

A short while later Kelly was brought out in handcuffs, loaded into a SAPS vehicle and taken off – his tirade of abusive language continued unabated, as it had throughout the ordeal.

What drove Kelly into perpetrating such a violent act is obviously a matter for the police and courts to investigate. However, the evidence gathered so far shows that the man’s behaviour pattern had become more and more aggressive in recent months, particularly in the last fortnight.

Indeed in the last edition of The EDGE we published a letter by a man who claimed he had been verbally abused by ‘an English-speaking white male’. Though his name hadn’t been mentioned in this letter, Kelly retaliated, arriving at The EDGE offices with a letter of response, handwritten and signed by himself. Even as he delivered it to a neighbouring office (The EDGE had not yet opened), he launched into a tirade of abusive language at the lady who he handed it to.

The letter itself was so full of rage, prejudice and threats of violence, that copies of it were sent to Sedgefield’s Community Orientated Policing (COP) to be put on record.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of people who had also been on the sharp end of Kelly’s verbal abuse began coming forward, and plans were put in place to use this information to get him investigated by SAPS, because those who had come into contact with him feared he might be dangerous.

But nobody could ever have imagined that his vicious verbal attacks could escalate to such violent physical levels so quickly.

When contacted, Community Orientated Policing (COP) Chairman Michael Simon said that due to the sensitivity of the case, they could not provide any official comment.
“We would, however, like to offer our sincere condolences to the Hampson family on behalf of all Sedgefield’s community policing organisations. We would thank the emergency services, including SAPS, the Fire Department, ER24 and Dr JC Venter for assisting on this tragic day,” he said.

According to a report from SAPS, Kelly appeared in the Knysna Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 05 February 2019 on counts of Murder and Malicious Damage to Property. His bail hearing was set for 13 February, but Sedgefield’s Community Police Sub-Forum is gathering signatures on a petition to oppose any bail application he might make. They have left petitions for signature at La Piazza, Build It and The EDGE.

SMUTSVILLE WOMEN HAVE DECLARED WAR ON BURGLARS…. AND OTHERS

(Names of individuals have not been used in this article for obvious reasons.)

A group of Smutsville residents, mostly women, are baying for action from the authorities, suggesting that if something isn’t done soon about the criminals preying on their homes and making their communities unsafe, they will be taking the law into their own hands.

On Monday morning The EDGE was summoned to meet with over thirty ladies – and one or two men – who had gathered in a garden on Luthango Street. They had asked the newspaper to come so that the strong message they wished to send to criminals, and indeed SAPS, could be published.

“Genoeg is Genoeg” (Enough is enough) they shouted, “We are tired of being afraid. We are tired of thieves walking in our community without being arrested.”

The women certainly looked like they meant business, determined to use their numbers to make a difference. They said that whilst they acknowledge that theft has always been a problem in the area, since December it has become much worse. More and more homes have been hit – and seldom is there a night when at least one household hasn’t suffered the results of this criminal activity.

The women believe that their homes are being ‘drugged’ by the perpetrators.
“They are removing the glass from our windows and burning something that makes us sleep heavily, before coming in to steal our stuff,” one lady complained, to the agreement of the others.

The most frustrating thing for them, they said, is that it is two culprits who are responsible for this current run of break-ins, and that the community are fully aware of their identities.
“We know who they are, and where they live!” said one of the women, “But even though they have been reported, the police are not arresting them.”

There was much excitement in the group, each wanting to say how her particular family had been affected by the wave of thievery for which they allege the two men are responsible.
“My mother of 83 years old was broken into,” said one lady. “The man got disturbed and ran off. We later found shoes and a bag outside, so we were able to identify the thief. But when we told the police they didn’t even take him into custody.”

Another person said she had seen one of the thieves carrying ill-gotten building materials past her home in the early hours of the morning. She and other community members went the next day and took the materials off him, informing the police that they had recovered what they believed were stolen goods. “The police told us to give them back to the man. We later found out that they had been stolen from a building site,” the angry lady insisted.

Yet another victim of theft said that her flat screen television and sound system had been stolen, and she was still awaiting the arrival of SAPS investigators. She holds no hope of getting it back. “It will be sold already by now,” she said.

The ladies suggested that their stolen property was mostly being ‘fenced’ in George and Knysna, but that there were some people buying it locally too, and sending it off to their homelands.
As each woman shared her experiences of theft and lack of concerted police action, the mood of the crowd became angrier and more determined to take action.

They believe that they represent most of the women in Smutsville when they say that they have reached the limits of their patience.
“This is just the start,” one of them said, “But the word is spreading. Today we are thirty-two women, by tomorrow there will be over a thousand. Ons is BAIE KWAAD (we are VERY CROSS).”

“Watch out!” yelled another lady, “The Sedgefield women are going to do their own thing to solve this problem. We know where these guys live, and soon we will be marching to their homes.”

And it seems that it is not only the thieves who will feel the might of this angry group.
“Our next target is the Tik houses,” announced one of the leaders of the group, with the others all voicing their agreement, “We know that it’s drugs that lead young people into crime.”

At around 12 pm on Tuesday 8 January, five people lost their lives as a result of a collision on the N2, just outside Sedgefield.
The fatal accident occurred around 12 pm between the Pine Lake turn off and Drie Valleyen. According to Kenny Africa Western Cape Provincial Traffic Chief, the vehicles involved were a Toyota Etios and a VW Caravelle.
He said that in the Etios along with the female driver were three children aged between three and fourteen. All four died on the scene. The fifth fatality was an adult female who had been traveling in the Caravelle along with the driver and another passenger.
The police are busy with an in-depth investigation to ascertain the cause of the tragic accident, but preliminary reports suggest that it was the result of overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic.

The Sedgefield Slow Festival is set to return in 2019. After taking a sabbatical for 2018, Sedgefielders will again be treated to their Easter entertainment with the Slow Festival.
Having grown it for nine years, event owner and organiser, Amanda Dixon, along with her steering committee of volunteers felt that the Slow Festival needed new input and direction. With the South African economic climate stretched, attracting sponsorship had become more challenging.
The Slow Festival has certainly evolved from its original beginnings – which started with a request to raise funds for charities in Sedgefield and put the town on the map, and with this ethos in mind it seemed logical that the future of the festival should be carried forward by a charity organisation which had organisational capacity, a broad reach in the community and connections with the business community. Thus, after careful consideration and discussions, it was decided that the Slow Festival should be passed on to the Sedgefield Lions to revitalise this local highlight.
Next year locals can again look forward to their favourite activities all wrapped up in a new format over the Easter break. ‘It was time for a change and new input to carry the Slow Festival into the future’ said Amanda.
Jurgens van der Walt of Sedgefield Lions, who also runs the new Sedgefield Info offices, will be the main overseer of the Sedgefield Slow Festival. He is delighted that the local Lions have decided to take this project on for Sedgefield.
“The value of the Sedgefield Slow Festival became evident when it didn’t happen this year. Being a service organisation, The Lions Club was the perfect entity to bring all the charities together to achieve a common goal. Now we just need the community and role-players to support this event,” he said.
For full details, in the new year watch this space and the Slow Festival digital platforms for details of the 2019 Slow Festival.

Words by Nikki Smit. Picture Heidi Muller.

Since Thursday morning local sports fans have been glued to their computer screens, tracking the progress of two local teams taking part in the Adventure Racing World Champs on the volcanic Reunion Island.
Unfortunately, one of these – the much loved Sanlam Painted Wolf Team, comprising John and Mark Collins along with Andre Gie and Robyn Owen had to pull out about 30 hours into the gruelling race due to injury, but Team Merrell Adventure Addicts, including locals Graham Bird and Hanno Smit, along with Traci Campbell and Grant Ross, has been performing exceptionally well, working their way up the leader-board with solid determination. At time of going to press (7am Wednesday 14 November) they were moving along in the highly commendable 19th place, with an estimated 24 hours left of racing.
The non-stop event covers some 425km, with a total elevation gain of 17310m (depending on how good one’s navigation is!)
The route is unmarked and teams are required to find their way old-school style, with a topographical map and a compass. Not quite as easy as it sounds, especially when the intended route is through areas with little to no roads or paths!
The route breakdown would be enough to give anyone sleepless nights, whether you are participating or just ‘dot watching’, a name given to a group of avid followers who find themselves glued to the screen for the duration of the event following the teams trackers!
In a video taken early on Monday morning of Team Merrell trekking along a rare piece of flat terrain, Traci Campbell said that it was hard to do just about anything such as eating or drinking whilst on the route, because they were always either bushwacking, climbing or falling!
The race started in Hell-Bourg.
Leg 1: Trekking with rope work sections – 106km and a whopping, body-crunching 7620m of elevation gain! This trek takes them around the Piton des Neiges.
Leg 2: Pack-rafting with rope-work sections (a pack-raft is a fold-up inflatable canoe type of craft, weighing about 4kg, that teams have to carry with them on the pack-rafting legs and inflate or deflate, paddle or carry as the terrain or water level requires. They also have to carry paddles, wetsuits and climbing gear, making their backpacks heavy accessories!) – 45km with 710m elevation gain.
Leg 3: Mountain biking – 41km, 880m Elevation gain.
Leg 4: Trek and Mountain biking – 27km, 330m elevation gain. This leg is a mixture of biking and trekking.
Leg 5: Trekking – 32km, with yet another body-crunching 3150m elevation gain, skirting the Piton de la Fournaise.
Leg 6: Mountain biking with a trekking section and caving section – 51km, 760m elevation gain. This section has quite a serious hike a bike section where team’s bikes will be ‘disabled’ and have to be carried.
Leg 6: Trek with rope work sections – 3km 20m elevation gain
Leg 7: Kayak 37km. The only flat piece on the profile picture!!!
Leg 8: Mountain bike – 77km with 2830m elevation gain
Leg 9: Trek with Pack-raft – 5km
Finish: L Hermitage Les Bains
Strategy in this race is everything. Teams are required to log 12hrs of sleep for the duration of the event at Transitions and Check Points. This is recorded on a sleep card. There are also numerous ‘dark zones’, where it is deemed too dangerous to continue in the dark. Getting to a dark zone at the wrong time could cost hours and ultimately a podium position, or possibly even the missing of cut-off points along the route, resulting in teams being short-coursed.
59 Mixed gender teams, six from South Africa, lined up at the start last Thursday to begin the gruelling event.
There were those who had no choice but to pull out along the way due to injury and exhaustion, others got short-coursed after not reaching designated checkpoints within set times, but some pushed on – and will no doubt continue to do so until they cross the finish line.
First of the 10 teams who had finished at time of going to press was New Zealand’s Avaya, the reigning champions for the last four years. They won the race convincingly, finishing the 460km course in 117 hours and one minute.
Teams can be tracked at http://live.arworldseries.com/arwc18/
For race articles, pictures and videos: find Adventure Racing World Series on Facebook.