Murder suspect Bevan van Druten makes bizarre call about demonic occurrences
Image: Nicky van Heerden was brutally murdered in January 2026
A man awaiting trial for allegedly killing his former Plettenberg Bay police officer girlfriend made a frantic, bizarre call from behind bars last week, claiming he was possessed.
The accused, Bevan van Druten, reportedly told a friend that “demonic stuff” was happening to him and that “strange things” were occurring inside the Knysna prison where he is being held.
The sensational claim comes as the 53-year-old driftwood artist dropped his bail bid in the Plettenberg Bay Magistrate’s Court earlier this month, where he has been charged with the murder of Anneke “Nicky” van Heerden.
Van Druten has been in custody since the day after Van Heerden’s brutalised body was discovered on a sand dune along Rivertides near Keurbooms Beach on January 18. Sand was apparently found in her mouth.
According to the man who said Van Druten had phoned him from prison, the call was "strange".
“Bevan is a bit of a weirdo,” he said, adding that Van Druten was a self-proclaimed reborn Christian and believed there were external forces at play.
“Bevan called me last week and said I needed to visit him in jail because demonic stuff was going on there.
"He has asked me to visit him three times now, once in person and twice through his brother-in-law.
"I intended to visit to deliver a letter saying I want nothing to do with him."
The man said Van Druten sounded anxious and did not go into detail about what he meant by “demonic”.
"I can accept that the court may decide that he is innocent, so I was willing to keep the friendship on pause pending the court decision," he said.
He said though he had been friends with the alleged “Driftwood killer”, he was going to try to sever ties.
"I cannot be friends with someone like that."
Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said inmates were allowed to make calls.
"They are allowed to make a phone call," he said.
"But it depends on how many calls they can make, but they are allowed [to do so]."
Van Heerden was a former police detective based in Plettenberg Bay.
While it was initially reported that she had met Van Druten a week before her murder, the two in fact first met in September when Van Heerden was asked to house-sit for him.
She introduced him to some of her family members a day before her body was found lying face down in the sand.
Van Druten had recently moved to Plettenberg Bay from Sedgefield and was known locally for his driftwood art.
Driftwood art is artwork made from pieces of wood that have been washed up by the sea or river and shaped by water over time.
After news of his arrest became public, several women came forward alleging they had been harassed by him "over a number of years".
It apparently got so out of hand that at least six protection orders had been sought against him in the past, IOL previously exclusively reported.
A protection order is issued by a court to prevent harassment, threats or abuse. It can prohibit a person from contacting or approaching the complainant.
Breaching such an order is a criminal offence.
But some of the women said had their complaints been taken more seriously, Van Heerden might still be alive.
Murder suspect Bevan van Druten makes bizarre call about demonic occurrences.
Image: FACEBOOK
Allegations have also surfaced about Van Druten allegedly mimicking the lifestyle of people locally known as “Barefooters”, who live off the grid and follow alternative spiritual practices.
Claims were made that a cult was being run by former pastor Rocco Viljoen, who has since distanced himself from Christianity and now describes himself as a spiritualist.
Viljoen’s name was also mentioned in an almost 11-minute voice note Van Heerden is believed to have recorded shortly before her death.
In the rambling voice note, Van Heerden appeared agitated as she addressed people she said were supporting Viljoen by following his WhatsApp group.
She described Viljoen as an enemy of Van Druten and urged those listening to stop following him.
Bevan van Druten's unsettling call reveals his beliefs while awaiting trial.
Image: SUPPLIED
At one point, she referred to Viljoen as the “demon of lizards” and told listeners they should instead follow Van Druten.
“All of you, I am not a f----ng polar bear,” Van Heerden said in the recording.
“Listen, all of you are asking a thousand questions about the Lord … because you want to believe this man you’re following over that of a man of the Lord, Bevan van Druten.
“Bevan van Druten is no longer Bevan van Druten. He is now Jonah, like the man spat out by the whale … the Bible was written in code.
“You need to listen to me. I felt the fear of Jesus Christ. Please listen to me. I gave myself the name Alaska. It comes out of the f---- Bible,” she said.
A man can then be heard laughing in the background, with Van Heerden adding: “This mad man laughing next to me is Bevan van Druten.”
Speaking to IOL, Viljoen denied any involvement in a cult.
"I must explain to you what this spirituality is," he said.
"The spirituality is not a cult nor is it a church ... it is just you."
Cults, he said, were not part of such devotion.
Viljoen also said he loved Van Heerden but was not "actually in love with her".
“When I met Alaska, I had recently broken up with somebody I truly loved, and I still love her.
“I was really hoping things would change and that we would get back together again.”
He claimed he and Van Heerden were connected by their "shared interest in spirituality and their financial struggles".
Their friendship was one of intimacy, without “anything sexual” involved, he said.
“We were both battling to survive … it really would not have worked, because I could not look after myself, and she could not look after herself.
“We were such good friends that we could sleep in the same bed without clothes, without sex.”
Rumours of cults operating on the Garden Route — and whether one played a role in the murder — were not far-fetched, said a Knysna man who claimed he had been "bundled up and pumped full of drugs" by so-called cult leaders.
He alleged that a group of women operating between Cape Town, the Garden Route and the Eastern Cape target the vulnerable and sell "healing services".
“They are a psychedelic cult and sell healing for anything, from cancer to Aids," he said.
“I have physically experienced it, and they have pumped me full of drugs before.
"You have to keep buying medicine from them and they receive all their money as donations and have several bank accounts as well as PayPal."
He documented his experiences of being a “puppet of the cult” and shared them with reporters.
“They use ayahuasca, ibogaine and mushrooms for psychedelic trips.
“They give it to young children when they feel they have come of age, or at moon parties when the daughters start their periods.
“They also do what they call ‘death support circles’, where they help people with dying."
Assisted dying is not legal in SA, though the issue has been debated in the courts and in Parliament.
It is alleged that Van Druten was part of the same psychedelic clique.
Rhoda Slabbert Barron, who is said to have moved in the same circles, previously made headlines in connection with the case of Diego Novella, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Gabriela Alban.
Novella, an Italian national, was found guilty in the Western Cape High Court in 2018 of killing Alban at a luxury hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town, in 2015.
Alban’s body was found in their hotel room after she had suffered severe head injuries.
The court heard she had been beaten and strangled.
In the period before the murder, Novella had attended a spiritual retreat in the Eastern Cape where Barron administered ibogaine, a powerful psychoactive substance derived from the iboga plant.
Ibogaine can cause intense hallucinations and altered mental states.
During the trial, evidence was led about Novella’s mental condition and drug use prior to the killing.
Attempts to reach Barron for comment by phone had proved futile by the time of publication.
Another woman who was also administering ibogaine in the Garden Route, and who used to go by the name Tenichka, said she adopted the name after undergoing psychedelic trips and described the drug as “amazing”.
Asked whether she had any involvement with Van Druten or Van Heerden, Tenichka was quick to say she did not even know Van Heerden had been killed.
She said she administered the drug in small doses and that it had many benefits.
It has also come to light that there was another man who spent that fateful day with Van Heerden and her alleged killer.
"I spent the Sunday with both Bevan and Alaska at Arch Rock," the man, who declined to be named, said.
ArchRock Resort is in Keurbooms Beach and has caravan sites, camping, cottages, a guest suite and luxury chalets situated right on the beach front.
"I spent about three hours with them from 1pm to 4pm.
"They were both acting like happy lovers in bliss."
Her body had been found about seven hours later.
The man claimed that he hoped that Van Heerden, being the strong woman that she was, could "put him in his place".
"This is also why I befriended him so he can see not all people are hard and that he can accept himself."
Van Heerden’s family said they would never accept Van Druten and were still coming to terms with what had happened.
Family spokesperson and brother-in-law Hein Bruwer said the family’s only focus was justice.
“We only want justice to be served,” Bruwer said.
“We are still trying to process what has happened. It has been extremely difficult for all of us.”
Asked about allegations linking Van Druten to cult activity, Bruwer said the family was not aware of any such claims at the time.
“We were not aware of any of those allegations ourselves. We have only read about them in the media.”
He said the speculation did not change the family’s position.
“Our concern is Nicky. We love her dearly and we miss her every single day.”
Meanwhile, Van Druten has abandoned his bid for bail after making bizarre claims in the Plettenberg Bay Magistrate’s Court, telling magistrate Stephan Lourens that he saw himself as the Archangel Michael and that Van Heerden was Jesus Christ.
In his latest appearance earlier this month, he read a handwritten letter and spoke about his beliefs before confirming that he no longer wished to apply for bail, a move that led the court to order he undergo psychiatric evaluation at Valkenberg Hospital.
His matter has been postponed to March 6.