Gauteng
1Min
South Africa
Nov 7, 2025
Zaheera Boomgaard, 62, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of two elderly victims in 2020. Both were found badly burnt near a road in Walkerville. She was also convicted of fraud and forgery, marking the end of a shocking case that gripped the nation.
Zaheera Boomgaard, 62, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the North Gauteng High Court for the murders of two elderly victims in 2020. Both victims, 70‑plus British national Jamnadas Harkant Nathvani and his friend Lynette Mustapha, were found severely burnt and discarded near a road in Walkerville.
Police believe they were killed elsewhere and their bodies set alight before being dumped.
Boomgaard met Nathvani through an online platform, while Mustapha was introduced to her through church connections. In addition to the murder convictions, she was found guilty of using Nathvani’s bank cards after his death and forging Mustapha’s will to name herself as a beneficiary. She was acquitted in a separate case concerning the disappearance of John Naisby in 2012, whose body was never recovered.
Three psychiatric evaluations from Sterkfontein Hospital confirmed that Boomgaard was mentally fit to stand trial despite her claims of hearing voices. Families of the victims delivered emotional letters to the court, urging that she never be released on parole.
