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Steven 'fought back, crying'
07/08/2007 15:21 - (SA)
Tisha Steyn, Die Burger
George - Six-year-old Steven Siebert appears to have fought back, crying, while he was being sodomised and strangled.
This was revealed during testimony by State pathologist Dr Yolande van der Heyde, who conducted a post mortem on the boy four days after he was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered just days before Christmas in 2005. She testified in the trial of self-confessed paedophile Theuns Olivier in the George Circuit Court, that the boy - who was abducted at about 19:00 from a house in Stableford Avenue in Plettenberg Bay - had been indecently assaulted and murdered.
Steven's parents, Thomas and Elaine Siebert, sat listening in court with downcast eyes. Olivier mostly sat with his head bowed.
Van der Heyde testified that there had been deep grazes on the back and the sides of the boy's neck, as well as fingernail marks and other signs that pressure had been applied to his throat by hand. The grazing probably had been caused by a white telephone cord with paint on it.
Van der Heyde said the boy's death had been caused by pressure on the arteries feeding blood to the brain, which would result in a lack of oxygen to the brain. The victim would have lost consciousness within 15 to 30 seconds.
Pressure on the windpipe at the same time had caused asphyxiation, which could have led to the boy's death within three to five minutes. Van der Heyde found mucus in his nose, indicating that he "had a runny nose, or had been crying".
Apart from these injuries there were also chafe marks and scratches on his legs, buttocks and arms. Grazes on his upper arms could indicate that he had resisted.
Willem Bosman, a former policeman who lives in Plettenberg Bay, testified earlier that he and his brother-in-law Riaan Victor had found the body at about 09:45 on Saturday morning December 24, lying in dense bush near a house in Cordovan Street. Olivier had been tiling at the house.
Bosman said they'd climbed through an old hedge near the double garage and were walking through the bush when they saw the body. "The position of the body suggested that it had been dumped there."
Steven's mother Elaine testified earlier that there were no marks on Steven when she returned from the beach with him and his brother Christopher (who was two at the time) at about 16:00.
Elaine was in tears and was comforted by her husband after the proceedings in court on Wednesday. The case continues.
- Die Burger
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