Matie's murder trial in 2010
2009-11-20 21:09
Cape Town - Former Stellenbosch student Jacobus Eksteen, accused of raping and killing fellow student Erin Van Rensburg, is to go on trial in the Western Cape High Court next year.
Eksteen made his final appearance in the Stellenbosch Magistrate's Court on Friday, when Magistrate Anita Potgieter informed him that his trial was scheduled for May 17.
Eksteen faces five charges - kidnapping, aggravated robbery, two counts of rape and one of murder.
Both Eksteen and his defence team were handed a copy of the High Court indictment, and a summary of the essential facts of the case.
Which prison?
Dressed neatly in a black suit, white shirt and black-striped tie, he was calm and seemed resigned to his fate.
At the request of prosecutor Samantha Raphaels, of the Western Cape Directorate for Public Prosecutions, the magistrate ordered his transfer from the Stellenbosch Prison to Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town.
Defence counsel Sakkie Maartens asked for Eksteen to remain in the Stellenbosch Prison on humanitarian grounds.
He said Eksteen's only contact with his family was through a brother living in Stellenbosch.
Maartens said Eksteen also had family in Durbanville, while his parents, both medical practitioners, live in Upington in the Northern Cape.
Raphaels said it would be necessary for the investigating police officer to fetch Eksteen each day of his trial if he remained in Stellenbosch.
She said the officer was to be a witness in the case and, as such, it was undesirable for him to have any contact with Eksteen once his trial starts.
In custody for a year
The magistrate said she had daily contact with the Stellenbosch prison authorities, who in fact did not want awaiting-trial prisoners to be held at the Stellenbosch Prison for lengthy periods of time.
Eksteen will have been in custody for a full year by the time his trial gets underway.
Maartens told the court that the Eksteen family had engaged senior counsel Francois van Zyl for his defence, and that he (Maartens) would assist as Van Zyl's junior.
Raphaels told the court a pre-trial conference had been scheduled for April 16, when preparations for the trial would be finalised.
- SAPA