Ruth Sharon Lawrence has been on the run for eight years, and on Wednesday, a concerted effort between South African police and Interpol culminated in her arrest.
Who is Ruth Sharon Lawrence?
Neighbours and friends of the 42-year-old would have been gob-smacked when armed Hawks operatives, together with a team of Fly Squad officials, descended on her residence in Pellissier, Bloemfontein, earlier this week.
In a statement quoted by News24, Free State Hawks spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo revealed a warrant of arrest was issued against the Irish fugitive on Wednesday, 28 September 2022, when information from Interpol “about the suspect being located in Bloemfontein.”
Lawrence was taken down and held in custody until her first court appearance at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
From what we understand, the appearance was brief, and Lawrence was ordered to remain in holding cells until her next court date on Wednesday, 12 October 2022.
An alleged murderer hiding in Bloem
According to Singo, Lawrence fled her home country in 2014, shortly after the plastic-wrapped bodies of two men, Eoin O’ Connor and Anthony Keegan, were found in a shallow grave in Lough Sheelin, a limestone freshwater lough in central Ireland, weeks after they’d disappeared.
As reported by BBC News, Connor and Keegan, two friends of Lawrence, were last seen alive in Cavan, a town situated between Dublin and Enniskillen, on Tuesday, 22 April 2014.
The pair disappeared after telling their respective families they were off to an important meeting.
A South African national living in Ireland at the time, Neville Peter van Westhuizen, emerged as a prime suspect in the double murder after Irish police established he and Lawrence were the last people seen alive with the pair.
Westhuizen and Lawrence fled Ireland and found refuge in Free State, South Africa, and for three years, the fugitives managed a decent life below the radar.
However, Westhuizen’s abrasive nature would be their undoing in 2017 when he murdered a teenage boy named Cody over a stolen cellphone he had nothing to do with.
Westhuizen was convicted of Cody’s murder in 2020. At the time, Connor’s brother, Brian, warned Lawrence to hand herself over in an interview with The Sun.
He said:
“The best thing for her would be to give herself up because it’s only a matter of time before Westhuizen gives her up to protect himself.”
Two years later, it could be that this is precisely what happened. Lawrence was taken into custody earlier this week and booked for the double murder.
Irish authorities are still in the process of finalising extradition applications for both suspects.