Kimberley -All eyes will be on Kimberley on Monday morning when the Steenkamp murder trial resumes in the Northern Cape High Court.
A 16-year-old boy, who was arrested on August 22, 2012, at his hostel room at Grey College in Bloemfontein stands accused of murdering Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christel, 43, and their 14-year-old daughter, Marthella, on the farm Naauwhoek near Griquatown in April last year.
The teenager has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder, the rape of Marthella as well as defeating the ends of justice.
The State is expected to continue calling its witnesses to take the stand during Monday’s proceedings.
Only 16 of the 91 witnesses have so far testified, although the State has indicated that the witness list is subject to change.
These included Marianna Smith, Deon Steenkamp’s sister, who told the court that four farms and half the family business were bequeathed to the accused, as well as the Commanding Officer of the Crime Scene Investigating Unit, Lieutenant André McAnda, who attended to the murder scene on April 6 2012.
McAnda testified that he noticed the body of a male (Deon) lying face down on the floor, with his arms and face drenched in blood after the forensic team turned his body over at the scene.
“Marthella and her mother, Christel, were found lying opposite each other on the floor in the living room.
“One side of Marthella’s body was soaked in blood while Christel was found lying face down,” according to McAnda.
McAnda previously attributed errors that were made during the investigation to “trauma and long working hours”.
This was after a pair of blood smeared trousers and a DNA swab, that were collected as evidence, later went missing. He was unable to account for these missing pieces of evidence.
He also apologised to the family of the deceased, the prosecution, defence and the court for a typing error on a forensic report that captured an incorrect number on one of the exhibits.
The collection of forensic evidence included six cartridges, a .22 rifle, an empty magazine and a revolver, as well as hair and blood samples, a toxicology report and sexual assault kit.
A collection of 206 photographs taken at the crime scene has also been handed in as evidence by the State.
The case was postponed in September, after Deon Steenkamp’s father, Don Steenkamp, who was executor of his son and daughter-in-law’s will and also responsible for the accused’s legal costs, died.
Steenkamp (senior)’s daughter, Marianna Smith, said that neither she, nor her sister had the funds to continue paying for the boy’s legal costs.
In a shocking development, a well-known right-wing female farmer, last week claimed that she was part of a “hit squad” that was responsible for the murders of the three members of the Steenkamp family.
Cornelia de Wet, a former member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), confessed her alleged role in the murders, saying she was present during the attack. She implicated and named three other men who were allegedly involved in the murders and rape.
She was transferred from the Middelburg Correctional Centre in Mpumalanga to Kimberley by the police to relate this information to the accused’s legal team last Wednesday.
Although the validity and truth of her claims has been doubted by many, Stoffel de Jager, lawyer for the defence, yesterday indicated that the legal team had not yet analysed the information provided by De Wet.
“It has not yet been decided on whether she would be called as a witness for the defence.”
De Jager, together with advocates Willem Coetzee and Sharon Erasmus, were expected to enter into a discussion on Sunday afternoon regarding De Wet’s claims.
According to sources close to the accused, De Wet’s claims had “brought a glimmer of hope to a deeply traumatised boy (the accused) who had been hung out to dry” but many have dismissed her claims as “utter absurdity”.
Red October, a movement “against the oppression of and violence against white South Africans” specifically with regards to farm murders, last week issued a statement slamming the report published in the DFA, saying that they believed that it was an attempt by the media to hide the facts regarding farm murders.
They discredited De Wet by saying they were “perplexed about the fact that she was not undergoing intensive psychiatric evaluation when it is clear that she has no concept of the truth and is completely out of touch with reality”.
“If one were to believe her story, you would also be forced to believe that she works for the government,” the statement on Red October’s Facebook page read.
The statement further included a comment from the editor of the Middelburg Observer, who had apparently known De Wet since she was 16, stating that “he felt deeply sorry for De Wet as she clearly needs psychiatric treatment and often arrived at his office, accompanied by her mother, covered in cuts made with razorblades, claiming that they were tortured by black attackers, when it was clear that these cuts were self-inflicted”.
The Red October page also stated that a former police officer in Mpumalanga said that De Wet was well known for making up stories that lead to many a fruitless investigation.
It further stated that, according to an official statement made by the AWB, Cornelia de Wet was not a member of the AWB and the camo-jacket she is sporting (on the picture published in the DFA) is not an AWB uniform.
The photo, where De Wet is clearly sporting AWB insignia, was taken at the late AWB leader, Eugene Terre’Blanche’s funeral.
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