Ex-policeman, Morné Croeser is free to pick up the pieces of his life after serving eight years of his 18-year jail sentence, for the frenzied killing of his wife, Erika.
Croeser was granted parole “two or three weeks ago” with the consent of Erika’s family members.
“We are aware of his release. We did attend a mediation process. We went through the whole process and we were satisfied with everything,” the late Erika’s twin brother, Francois Schafer told Weekend Witness.
However, he said he did not want to make any further comments about the matter.
Another person with ties to the case, who did not want to be named, said as far as he is concerned, Croeser paid his debt to society and should be given a chance to start his life afresh.
According to a post on Facebook Croeser is working as a “trainer/marketing and sales” for a KZN security company.
At the time of his arrest and conviction, Croeser was a dog handler with the SAPS K9 unit at Mountain Rise.
Weekend Witness tried to contact Croeser and via Whatsapp messages invited him to grant an interview, or issue a statement but he did not respond.
In a case that made headlines, Croeser was found guilty of brutally stabbing Erika 14 times in the face and neck at their home at Albert Falls, in the early hours of August 28, 2010.
Afterwards Croeser stabbed himself in the abdomen to deflect suspicion from himself.
A full bench consisting of three KZN high court judges rejected his appeal against his conviction on August 26, 2014.
They did, however, reduce the original 23-year jail sentence imposed on Croeser by Judge Esther Steyn to 18 years imprisonment.
In a reserved judgment, the appeal judges found that an “explosion of rage” probably caused Croeser to stab his wife 14 times after the couple had returned home from a pub outing.
Then in a bid to cover up the murder Croeser stabbed himself.
Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel, with Judge Gregory Kruger and Judge Kate Pillay, said Croeser was not a criminal in the ordinary sense of the word, but had been a dedicated policeman with an excellent record.
The state’s evidence suggested that he had an anger problem.
There was evidence that when Croeser and Erika were in the Amble Inn pub at Cramond earlier that night they sat close together “spooning” and, in the absence of premeditation something must have sparked the attack, said the judges.
The couple’s neighbour had heard a violent shaking of the security gate and a heavy wooden wardrobe in the laundry fell over before Erika screamed.
The evidence, which led to Croeser’s conviction, was circumstantial. The trial court found he and Erika had a stormy relationship.
He was having an affair at the time and she had threatened to leave him with their children, and also applied for a protection order against him.
The trial court said there was no evidence of forced entry to the couple’s home or of the intruder Croeser had blamed for the murder.
On September 29, 2018, The Witness reported that Croeser and the woman with whom he was cheating on Erika, local school teacher, Ruth Sinclair, got married in Pietermaritzburg’s New Prison.
The fact that the wedding had gone ahead as planned was confirmed at the time by acting area commissioner for Correctional Services Vusumuzi Ndlovu.
Prison sources said it was “unusual” for couples to tie the knot in jail and also required the nuptials to take place amid a high degree of security.
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