Nearly six years after the deaths of engaged couple Mari Hoon and Jean Vosloo, guesthouse owner Kevin Pretorius was sentenced to an effective 10 years’ imprisonment for double murder in the Gqeberha Regional Court. The couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to a faulty gas geyser at the Kliphuis guesthouse near Kareedouw. (Photo: Supplied / Facebook) For nearly six years, two families have been in and out of court after a young couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Kareedouw guesthouse.
On Friday, 20 February, more than a year after he was convicted of double murder, the owner of the Kliphuis Guesthouse, Kevin Pretorius, was sentenced to an effective 10 years behind bars in the Gqeberha Regional Court.
The families of Mari Hoon (28) and her fianceé Jean Vosloo (25) were happy to see the matter come to a close. But there will be no celebration. They will not be turning over a fresh page.
The pain does not go away
“We cannot simply close the chapter on Mari’s life and move on. This sentence does not take the pain away. My sister is still gone. For us, nothing changes,” Hoon’s older sister, Sune Hoon-Pretorius, said after the sentencing.
“Every time this matter went back to court it hit our family. We were reminded of what we lost and we had to pick ourselves up again. So yes, there is a measure of relief that court proceedings are over. But the outcome changes nothing.”
Hoon and Vosloo had visited the guesthouse on Pretorius’s farm outside Kareedouw, about 130km from Gqeberha, in April 2020. Their romantic weekend ended in tragedy when their lifeless bodies were found in the shower.
Toxicology reports confirmed that the couple died from carbon monoxide poisoning, with all indications that it was caused by a gas leak from a faulty gas geyser. This led to Pretorius’s arrest.
/file/attachments/orphans/KevinPretorius1a_249364.jpg "Guesthouse owner Kevin Pretorius leaves the Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court, flanked by friends, the day before his sentence was handed down. (Photo: Riaan Marais)")
During the drawn-out trial, marred by a series of prolonged postponements, evidence before court showed that he had ample warning about the faulty geyser.
In the weeks leading up to the tragic weekend, other guests reported suffering symptoms of gas inhalation, and Pretorius did not do enough to resolve the issue.
No approved building plans
It also came to light that there were no approved building plans for the guesthouse, and no certificate of compliance to confirm the safe installation of the geyser.
Experts testified that a crucial component, an exhaust flue to expel harmful gases, was missing from the geyser, and was likely to have caused the fatal leak.
/file/attachments/orphans/Kliphuis-from-river_154006.jpg "The Kliphuis guesthouse on the Zuuranys farm near Kareedouw. (Photo: Supplied / Facebook)")
Defence attorneys argued that Pretorius should have faced culpable homicide charges, but in January 2025 the court sided with the prosecution’s argument that his action constituted dolus eventualis in that he knew his actions could ultimately put lives in danger.
Read more: Families seek closure as guesthouse owner faces sentencing for double murder gas leak deaths
When sentencing proceedings got under way last week, Pretorius’s legal team brought two pre-sentencing reports before court – a correctional supervision report and a report compiled by a private social worker.
The reports outlined Pretorius’s personal circumstances, his financial responsibilities towards his two minor daughters, the role he played as an upstanding member of the Kareedouw community, and the emotional toll his arrest and subsequent court proceedings has had on his family.
Both reports indicated that he could be a candidate for a non-custodial sentence and the court could impose harsh community service and psychological programmes to increase the severity of his sentence.
During argument, advocate Francois van Zyl SC conceded that a sentence of correctional supervision for a murder conviction might not sit well with the community, and that asking for a non-custodial sentence might be “a bridge too far”.
However, he added that the punishment should not be disproportionate to the crime, which he argued was nothing more than “a punishable accident”.
In turn, the State read two victim impact statements into the court record – one each from the victims’ families – which showed the emotional trauma caused by the couple’s untimely deaths.
Gut-wrenching letter
A gut-wrenching letter by Vosloo’s father detailed how every picture they had of Jean showed him smiling, and how he can no longer look at his son’s pictures because he found it too painful.
“There was no one on this Earth that I loved more than my son Jean,” he wrote.
“I did not attend any of the court hearings for reasons of my own, but mainly because I would have to face the man responsible for my son’s death and I was scared that I could do or say something irresponsible if I saw him.”
He wrote that their entire family is filled with “immense anger” as they believe these untimely deaths were easily avoidable, and solely due to Pretorius’s negligence.
The statement, on behalf of the Hoon family, described Mari as a “vibrant, intelligent, compassionate and determined” woman who had been planning her wedding.
“What was meant to be the most joyful season of their lives became a living nightmare,” the statement read.
‘We were given a life sentence’
It further quoted Mari’s mother, Maria, as saying that “we were given a life sentence”, as they continued to live with the unbearable grief.
In his final argument prosecutor Johan Jansen said the victims were completely vulnerable because they had no way of knowing about the unsafe conditions of the guesthouse.
He said experts testified that carbon monoxide is an odourless, tasteless gas and the couple would have had no way of knowing they were in danger, and they trusted the owner of the property to ensure the proper and safe operation of all facilities.
Jansen said Pretorius was motivated by greed, proven by his failure to comply and unwillingness to close the guesthouse or pay an expert to remedy the problem.
Magistrate Vusiwe Mnyani sentenced Pretorius to 10 years’ direct imprisonment on both charges of murder, and ordered that the two sentences run concurrently.
Algoa FM reported that Mnyani granted Pretorius leave to appeal his conviction and sentence due to the “very unusual” nature of the case, and said another court could potentially reach a different decision.
Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Barry Madolo said the conviction and sentence draw attention to the importance of regulations and legal obligations resting on operators of hospitality businesses.
“Those who ignore safety standards and place lives at risk for financial gain must expect to face serious criminal consequences. The National Prosecuting Authority remains steadfast in holding such offenders accountable.”
He said compliance with safety regulations is not optional, and operators have a duty to safeguard the wellbeing of their patrons. Failure to do so may result in severe criminal liability.
Speaking after the sentencing, Hoon-Pretorius said her family is relieved that someone is being held accountable for what happened to her sister and future brother-in-law, but that the sentencing was of little consequence to them.
While the family attended many of the previous court dates, they were not present during sentencing proceedings.
‘Something we will never put behind us’
She said their only comfort is that Hoon and Vosloo’s deaths prevented other people from getting hurt.
“I really don’t know how to feel at this stage. I have many mixed emotions about the sentencing, about their deaths not being in vain, and about never seeing my sister again.
“We never had any expectations for the sentencing. For us the matter was finalised when Pretorius was convicted and his punishment does nothing to relieve our grief. This is something we will never be able to put behind us,” Hoon-Pretorius said. DM