Update
KNYSNA NEWS - The seventh day of the trial of a Knysna resident accused of murdering his then ex-girlfriend nine years ago concluded in Knysna on Tuesday, and was set to continue for the next three weeks as more witnesses were expected to be called to the stand.
The hearing, which started on Monday 19 February in the Circuit High Court in Knysna, is being conducted almost a decade after Knysna local Shantel Zeelie's murder on 5 January 2009.
Her ex-boyfriend Eugene Stander was arrested three years later for her murder and released on R5 000 bail.
Journalist Nwabisa Pondoyi reported that according to Zeelie's mother, Elsie Zeelie, the case was thrown out of court because, "apparently there wasn't enough evidence".
"Nine years later and after complaining and writing to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) the case has been reopenend," she said to Pondoyi.
Zeelie, 28 at the time of her death, was a receptionist at a brokerage firm. Her fully clothed body was found on 6 January 2009, hidden beneath some branches, near a path leading to the Coney Glen lookout point at the Heads.
Her vehicle was found in a parking lot nearby with no signs of theft.
Since Tuesday 20 February 2018, several witnesses were called to testify, including a pathologist, medical practitioner, Zeelie’s coworker, Zeelie’s mother, a mutual friend of both the deceased and accused, investigating officers involved in the case at various times, a coworker of Stander, and the Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) liaison manager of MTN.
'Strangled from behind'
According to Netwerk24, pathologist Dr Willem van der Merwe testified on Tuesday that Zeelie had received fatal injuries to her neck.
He was of the opinion that Zeelie was most probably strangled from behind.
Medical practitioner Dr Servaas de Kock, who examined Stander on 9 January 2009, testified that it was his opinion that marks found on Stander’s arms could coincide with someone moving through a wooded area with branches, reported Netwerk24 further.
Jacomina Farnham, Zeelie's coworker, testified that on 5 January 2009 Zeelie had requested they swop lunch times that day as Zeelie had a meeting planned with Stander.
According to Farnham they had already ended their relationship at this time and Zeelie had not taken the break-up well.
"She was gone for a short while, then came back to fetch her handbag… That was the last time I saw her or heard from her," said Farnham.
It also came to light during Farnham's testimony that Zeelie had spoken to her at the end of 2008 about blackmailing Stander, a motor mechanic at the time, with a falsified trade certificate that had his name on it, to get him back in her life.
"When I asked her why, she said because she loved him. She didn't say whether Stander knew about it at that stage," said Farnham.
The testimony of Elsie Zeelie focused largely on Zeelie's disappearance on 5 January 2009 and their attempts to get hold of her.
It was only the following day that Zeelie's father, who has since passed away, first found her vehicle, then her body.
'Daughter seemed in love'
Elsie testified that to her the relationship between her daughter and Stander was fine at that time, as Zeelie acted like a person in love.
Testimony from a mutual friend of Zeelie and the accused, Mariska Fransen, also revealed that Zeelie had planned to blackmail Stander, for R20 000, but that her actual intention was to get back together with him.
On the day of Zeelie's disappearance, said Fransen, she was in contact with both Stander and Zeelie, with the latter sharing via SMS that she was on her way to the Heads during her lunch break to pick up money from Stander.
Fransen added that it was Zeelie who falsified the certificate.
"The last message I received from her while she was waiting for him was 'Hier is hy nou' (here he is now). Afterwards I tried to find out from her what had happened but was unable to reach her.
"Eugene told me he never went to such a meeting as he was busy at work," she said.
Previously, said Fransen, she had approached Stander regarding the fake trade certificate, whereupon he said he would find out more about it. It is uncertain whether he did so.
The accused Eugene Stander sits pensively outside the courtroom where his case is being heard. Photo: Nwabisa Pondoyi
During cross-examination, the nature of Fransen's relationship with Stander was heavily scrutinised.
According to the defence, she had an on-and-off relationship with him for years and was just as "infatuated" with him as Zeelie.
Fransen testified that she had deleted all messages between both her and Zeelie and Stander because, she said, she had to empty her phone's inbox to make space for more messages.
The defence said this rendered her testimony hearsay, but also called her actions into question.
Fransen insisted that she never intended to protect anyone.
'Stander went to police on his own'
In the testimony of Warrant Officer Herman Freiboth on Friday 23 February, it came to light that Stander had gone to the police of his own accord four days after Zeelie’s murder, stating he had been told a detective was looking for him but didn’t know the name of the detective.
Freiboth testified that Stander was told the detective branch was not looking for him, but then they noticed “fresh scratch marks” on Stander’s arms.
"We requested that we take him to a doctor (Dr Servaas de Kock) to place the injuries on record, and the accused had no problem with that," said Freiboth, adding that Stander indicated he had sustained the scratch marks at work.
On Monday 26 February investigating officer Colonel Max Mangale testified about Stander's police statement at the time.
In the statement, Stander said Zeelie was trying to blackmail him. Mangale also said that he interviewed the only car guard in the parking lot where Zeelie's vehicle was found, and that the guard was unable to place Stander at the scene.
Richard Cooper, a coworker of Stander, testified that it was his trade certificate that was used to falsify Stander's document, a fact that he only became aware of later, although he could not remember exactly when.
The mounted certificate had been cut open at the back and repaired with adhesive tape.
Cellphone records questioned
MTN's LEA liaison manager Dharmesh Kanti was the last to testify on Tuesday 27 February, focusing largely on Stander's cellphone records.
Kanti said records show that Stander's phone signal was picked up by MTN's antenna at the Heads on the day of Zeelie's disappearance and murder (5 January 2009).
The defence labelled Kanti's testimony as hearsay though, stating that Kanti himself did not generate the information but relied purely on information received by MTN engineers and technicians.
A theme throughout the court proceedings thus far has been the inability of many witnesses to recall exact details.
Specific times, what was said and when, and other details have become foggy after nine years, was the general response.
Judge Nathan Erasmus presides over the case, with Christhénus van der Vijver prosecuting and local attorney Daan Dercksen acting as Stander's defence attorney.
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