The Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Thursday morning fell silent as senior State prosecutor Krishen Shah read aloud the confession of Fredrik Nicolas Francois le Roux, an elite South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Task Force veteran who allegedly killed his wife.

“I shot Taryn, I shot Taryn in the face, she doesn’t want to stop, she doesn’t want to f***ing listen to me.”

Those chilling admissions from the 67-year-old former Special Forces soldier, who spent years as a defence contractor in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Somalia, ultimately sealed his fate when Magistrate Wendalyn Robinson denied him bail.

Le Roux, who earned R75,000 per month with Global Security Services Group before his arrest, had desperately portrayed himself as a community guardian in his bail affidavit, stating that he was a role model to his children. 

“With my special training and knowledge, I have kept people safe. I am an upstanding man in the community, keeping people such as you and I safe, ensuring that you can go to sleep peacefully at night while I serve and protect.”

He said he was willing to comply with all bail conditions. His attorney from Legal Aid, Waseem Hoffese, challenged the State’s flight risk assessment. 

“How will he leave the country without a passport? The State’s notion that he has international connections and is, therefore, a flight risk is speculative. The court can’t depend on speculation but fact,” he said. 

Hoffese said he was willing to comply with all bail conditions. 

However, Shah emphasised Le Roux’s dangerous military background and international connections spanning multiple conflict zones.

“He has no assets; nothing is tying him to the jurisdiction. If he gets bail, where will he go? There is no house, what will he do? He is now unemployed,” Shah said.

He argued that Le Roux’s elite SANDF Task Force training and years in war-torn countries made him both violence-prone and equipped to evade justice through his extensive international networks.

Additionally, Shah read a statement by Taryn’s adopted son, Daniel Wilson, revealing years of terror at the hands of the former soldier.  

In the statement, Wilson recalled how his stepfather spat in his mother’s face and issued death threats while hurling insults.

“It’s people like that who put people like me in jail and them in a mortuary,” Le Roux used to say to Taryn.

In delivering her ruling, Magistrate Robinson said: “It’s wishful thinking that people don’t get through our borders without a passport.”

She said she does not believe that Le Roux was a suitable candidate to be granted bail. As she said that, the gallery full of Taryn’s family started getting excited, with others making noise. 

Outside the court, Taryn’s father, Vincent Barbarovich, captured the family’s anguish: “I’m happy he was denied bail, but I am sad for my daughter. He is as guilty as anything; he has admitted that he did it. Lock him away for life,” he said.

The matter will continue on February 6, 2026.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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