Kallie Delport

Case record: Kallie Delport

Background

Carel Johannes “Kallie” Delport was a South African mass murderer. He killed nine people, including his father, and wounded 19 others in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on January 20, 1992. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 39 years in prison.

Delport suffered from meningitis as a child and was declared unfit for military service for unknown reasons. He worked on his father Marthiens’ farm in Allerkraal, a place outside of Ladysmith, earning R300 a month.

Delport reportedly had a history of mental illness. After an examination conducted after the shooting, he had an IQ of 78 and was suffering from borderline personality disorder.

Delport had a brother named Willem.

Delport had disputes with his stepmother Eleonora, who could not stand him and wanted him off the farm. He also had disputes with his father Marthiens, whom he called a hard and ruthless man. Delport accused his father of casting him from his rightful place when he adopted a black boy two months prior to the shooting. Delport said his father often said he was stupid and belonged in a mental institution. Delport was also not allowed to eat together with his father and stepmother at the table, and he had to have his meals outside the house.

Marthiens Delport had an illegitimate daughter with a black woman and once raped a 16-year-old relative, who afterwards unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide.

The offence

The shooting began at the farm after Delport had an argument with his father about the sale of three calves. When his father showed him the money he had just received, commenting that he would give it to his stepmother, Delport armed himself with a .357 Magnum revolver and killed his father with a shot to the chest on the veranda. He then attempted to help his father, but his father was already dead.

Delport next shot the housemaid Makhozana Alzina Ntombela in the kitchen and set fire to the mattress in his room and his car, which eventually caused the house to burn down.

Outside, about 750 metres from the farm, Delport killed Msamaniso Mdladla and Petros Ndlala, the two black men who had come to buy the calves.

Delport then drove to his stepmother in Ladysmith to set her car on fire. When he failed to find it, he began shooting randomly at people in the street with a Ruger Mini-14. Delport continued shooting at the parking lot of a shopping centre, killing a total of five people, including traffic officer Prithlal Rambally, who was hit three times, and wounding 11 more.

When police arrived at the scene, Delport sped away in his truck towards Newcastle and shot at commuters in a bus, wounding six of them.

Most of Delport’s victims were killed with shots to the heart.

Delport had 13 licensed firearms at the time of the shooting. He was frequently asked to participate in wildlife culling because he was considered one of the best marksmen in the area. Besides the rifle police recovered four 30-round magazines, the .357 Magnum revolver and more than 3,600 rounds of ammunition from Delport’s truck.

Investigation

Police Capt. Mike Apelgryn said Delport argued with his father Marthiens Delport over the price the older man accepted for some cattle. Police said the son said the price was too low. Police alleged that the son got an assault rifle and shot and killed his father and three other people on the family farm, including a young herd boy. Police also said he set fire to the farmhouse.

Police said they found 2,000 rounds of unused ammunition in the man’s truck.

Arrest

Delport was eventually arrested on a road outside of Ladysmith after a short chase and a shooting with police, in which two officers were wounded. Witnesses said he stopped his truck after a brief chase and waged a gun battle with police before he was apprehended.

Trial

During Delport’s trial, a crowd gathered outside the court and threatened to lynch him.

On March 4, the trial was postponed to March 18 for a two-week long psychiatric examination of the gunman.

Dr. Anthony Dunn, chief psychiatrist at the Midlands Hospital, argued that Delport was not mentally ill during the shooting, but because of his low IQ, his inability to cope with stress, and his hatred against his father, Delport was of partially unsound mind and lost all self-control.

Prosecution accepted Delport’s mental incapacity, low intelligence and emotional imbalance as mitigating factors and refrained from demanding capital punishment. Prosecution asked for a long-term prison sentence during which Delport should receive psychological help.

Delport pleaded not guilty and claimed that he was of unsound mind during the shooting and fired at black shapes that were attacking him. On October 21 he was found guilty after changing his plea.

Sentencing

On October 29, 1992, Delport was sentenced to a total of 39 years in prison. The sentencing included 22 years for nine counts of murder and 12 years for 21 counts of attempted murder. The sentences ran concurrently, meaning that he would be released after 22 years. Delport was also declared unfit to ever be able to obtain a firearms license.

Outcome

Delport killed nine people and wounded 19 others. He was sentenced to 39 years in prison.

Victims

The victims who were killed were:

• Marthiens Delport, 68
• Makhozana Alzina Ntombela, 40, housemaid at the Delport farm
• Msamaniso Mdladla, killed at the farm
• Petros Ndlala, killed at the farm
• Melusi Obed Zwane
• Mohamed Faruk Laka
• Enock Lucky Nyatahi
• Patrick Mbongeni Gumede
• Prithlal Rambally, 28, traffic officer

Traffic officer Prithlal Rambally was hit three times.

Aftermath

Because most of Delport’s victims were black, racial tensions increased in the area.

A crowd gathered outside the court and threatened to lynch him.

Police Minister Hernus Kriel urged “all sectors of the Ladysmith community to remain calm and not to overreact or take steps which could result in any form of conflict whatsoever.”

Bonny York, a local shopowner, said: “It was chaos. I think he went bonkers. He just shot at anyone he saw,” and “He kept on shooting wildly at anyone he saw while he was driving.”

Johannesburg, South Africa was reported as the location of the Associated Press dateline “JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP)”, and the incident was reported as taking place in a rural town in Natal Province.

Other details

At the time of the shooting, Delport was described as a 30-year-old white man.