'I JUST WANT MY HUSBAND BACK'

It’s been nearly six years since Gerco van Deventer was kidnapped in Libya. His wife, Shereen, spoke to YOU 

- MEGHAN LAWRENCE

SHE remembers the blind panic she felt when her husband suddenly dropped the phone during one of their long-distance calls. 

“There was the noise of a bomb exploding somewhere and they were being told to evacuate,” Shereen van Deventer recalls. 

She’d been hugely relieved when her husband, Gerco, decided to leave his dangerous job in Afghanistan in favour of an opportunity in Libya. It would be safer, the couple from Swellendam in the Western Cape believed. 

But in a cruel twist of fate Gerco (47) was kidnapped and held hostage by a paramilitary group in Libya. His kidnappers then sold him to another terrorist group who took him to Mali. 

Now, six years later, he’s still in their clutches. 

Hope is the only thing keeping She- reen going – and it was strengthened in March when two other hostages were set free. Both were kidnapped in separate incidents in the same area: French journalist Olivier Dubois (48) in April 2021, and US aid worker Jeffery Woodke (61) in October 2016. 

Olivier had met Gerco during his captivity and was able to let Shereen know her husband was still alive. 

“Olivier’s wife let me know that Gerco is alive and that he’s okay,” Shereen says.

“He says Gerco was shot after he was kidnapped, but that he’s still able to use his arm. It’s such a relief. Olivier spent a year and a half in captivity with Gerco.” 

Shereen holds a mug of tea as she speaks to us, the family dogs keeping a watchful eye on us. There’s rescue pooch Daphne. The other, Brakkie, is Gerco’s dog, she says.