Centre Of The Storm

Rumours around a deadly fire have gripped a Boland town – and this couple are caught in the middle.

- Joanie Bergh & Charlea Sieberhagen

THE harrowing circumstances of their death made headlines – a seemingly perfect young couple burnt along with their beloved dog in their farmhouse in the middle of the night.

At first it seemed little more than a terrible tragedy. But since the death of Jacques van Dyk (30), a farm manager, and Sunita (31), his teacher wife, in the Boland town of Wellington on 10 May there have been more questions than answers – not only about the fire but also about the events in the weeks leading up to the fire.

Family, friends, colleagues and parents at Paarl Gymnasium Primary School where Sunita taught have been rocked by one revelation after another. There are the rumours of an affair between the dead woman and the school head master, Danie le Roux (YOU, 1 June), the results of the autopsy that showed Sunita had wounds on her neck that could have been caused by strangulation, the claims that Danie’s wife, Eloise, was obsessed with Sunita . . .

It’s a bulging can of worms that’s turned the Boland region upside down and made the Le Rouxs the talk of the town.

In a letter found in the rubble of the destroyed farmhouse, Eloise (36) writes to the Sunita. “There is not enough room on any page or card to write down the extent of my love for you.”

The death of the Van Dyks “is all people in Wellington and Paarl are talking about now,” says Peter Jordan*, a long­ time family friend of Sunita. “Whether you’re at a braai, a function or a coffee shop, everyone’s talking about it because nothing makes sense.”

After the fire it was alleged Sunita had been having an affair with Danie (44) but had ended it in February.

“Shortly after Sunita started teaching at Paarl Gymnasium her dad, Rassie Marais, died unexpectedly,” Peter says. “Her dad was her everything. I think Danie saw she was suffering.”