Bloody palmprint led to body
2005-08-30 22:39
Nelspruit - A bloody palmprint on a freezer, in which a 78-year-old man had suffocated, formed part of the evidence handed in at the High Court here on Tuesday.
Burglars tied up Tobias de Clerq, pushed a rag into his mouth and assaulted him before throwing the unconscious man into a chest freezer on New Year's Day 2004.
For the past two days, the court has heard testimony that Bheki Magagula, 21, Bigboy Nyalunga, 22, and a third suspect - who is still at large - allegedly hit De Clerq on the head with a panga.
De Clerq lived alone on In-die-Middel farm in picturesque Schoemanskloof near Nelspruit.
On that New Year's Day he was inside the house when the men allegedly climbed through a window and opened the door for an accomplice "who was too fat to climb through the window", testified captain Paul Roodt, to whom Nyalunga had pointed out certain aspects of the murder.
Nyalunga's palmprint was found on the freezer, testified superintendent Leon Fouché, a fingerprint specialist.
Silent testimony to the killing
The court was quiet as inspector Sipho Manana testified how he had found De Clerq's body in the freezer after he and the dead man's son, Pieter, had searched the house.
Photographs of the frozen body in the freezer and the blood-smeared floor, walls and furniture were silent testimony to the killing that had taken place.
All that was missing from the house was a cellphone and two firearms.
District surgeon Dr Mobin Wadee testified that there were several deep cut and hack wounds to De Clerq's body.
He found the elderly victim had died of suffocation and the hack wound to his head.
Besides blood in the trachea, the fact that he was put in the airtight freezer could have contributed to his death, said Wadee.
The two men have denied throughout the hearing that they committed the murder.
Magagula said in his plea that he was never near the house, while Nyalunga admitted that he was there, but denied killing De Clerq.
Rose Mhlakwana, who had worked for De Clerq since 1977, testified that she immediately realised something was amiss when she arrived at the farmhouse on January 1 2004 and found De Clerq's glasses outside the house.
Wept in the gallery
She said she had called police after she had called out to her employer, who failed to answer.
Mhlakwana, who was in the gallery while De Clerq's son testified, wiped away her tears with a washcloth.
Inspector Calvin Pule testified how they had found Magagula after phoning him on De Clerq's stolen cellphone.
A third suspect, named Mashu, was never found, despite a R10 000 reward for information about him and pamphlets with his photograph being distributed, said inspector Madelein Jacobs.
The State is due to close its case on Wednesday, after which the accused are expected to testify.