Ashley Kriel Brutally Murdered – 9 July 1987
On the morning of 10 July 1987, Michelle Assure was alone at home when two Security Branch policemen, Warrant Officer Jeffrey Benzien and his colleague Strydom knocked on the door and demanded the whereabouts of her brother, Ashley Kriel. After denying knowing where he was, they then told her to go and identify his remains at the Salt River mortuary.
Actually, on 9 July 1987, 20-year-old Ashley Kriel was murdered by the apartheid police. On that day, apartheid Security Branch Captain William Liebenberg informed Warrant Officer Benzien and Sergeant Abels to go to 8 Albermarle Road in Athlone. Liebenberg told them to perform surveillance and determine if the trained African National Congress (ANC) “terrorist”, Ashley Kriel, was in the house or one of the adjacent properties. Benzien, told Abels to knock on the back door of the house. After a couple of minutes of Abels knocking, Ashley Kriel opened the door, carrying a towel and a jersey. Next thing Kriel was killed.
Ashley James Kriel was born on the 17 October 1966 to Ivy and Melvin Kriel. He grew up in Bonteheuwel, in Cape Town, which is a township on the Cape Flats and also went to school in Bonteheuwel. Despite a year at Athlone High School in 1982, he returned to Bonteheuwel High and finished his education there in 1985. As a result of his leadership skills, Kriel soon became an influential leader of the youth in Bonteheuwel.
Between the years 1981 and 1985 he
