Accused 'possessed by demon'

2002-09-11 21:53

Ronel Bester

Cape Town - A Kuils River man who stands accused of murdering a 19-year-old woman told a church friend three days after the incident that "something demonic came over him" when he repeatedly hit her with a brick.

Gabriel Karelse said this in his testimony in the High Court on Wednesday about the 33-year-old Christopher van Ster's confession to him.

Van Ster stands accused on charges of rape and murder relating to the death of Varity February, also from Kuils River, in June 2000. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. February's body was found in the bush at Mfuleni four days after her disappearance.

Van Ster's former wife, Ester van Ster, testified earlier that her husband had attempted to commit suicide a day after the incident by drinking sleeping and pain pills. She discovered blood, a tooth and "long, straight dark hairs" in the back of their bakkie but her former husband later washed the bakkie with a chemical agent, she testified.

Mrs van Ster said her husband told her that he had burned the blood, tooth and hair that she had taken from the bakkie and hid, along with February's clothes.

Mrs van Ster caused a stir in court when she testified that her husband had told her the deceased's boyfriend Fabian Fransman was "the brain behind the whole thing". She said she had found three cheques, signed by Fransman's father, in her husband's wallet.

Valerie Vermaak, the deceased's mother, earlier testified that Fransman had phoned a radio station after her daughter's disappearance and requested that a message be broadcast saying he loved her and wanted to marry her.

Karelse testified that Van Ster came to see him three days after the murder and said he had picked up February at her parents' home. Karelse said Van Ster had told February that her boyfriend had sent him.

"He said something demonic came over him. He pulled the bakkie over, walked to the passenger side and pulled the girl out of the bakkie."

Karelse said Van Ster told him that he picked up a brick and hit February over the head. "He said he did not have sex with her and that he put her on the back of the bakkie and dropped her off somewhere in the bushes," Karelse testified.

Karelse said he decided not to go to the police with the information, as Van Ster said he had been to the police, and he had trusted Van Ster. "Here he sits today. My heart really aches. I believed that he was a sincere man of character," Karelse said.

- Die Burger