Murder accused bragged - witness
2010-03-18 07:41
Johannesburg - A man accused of murdering a woman by strangling her and pulverising her head with a rock apparently bragged about the incident and carried around a photo of the woman's crushed head.
This is how Hendrik Holtzhausen, the State's first witness, testified on Wednesday against the accused, Clint Kramer.
Kramer stands accused in the Randburg Magistrate's Court of murdering Concelia Maré, 20, in May 2006 in the Pretoria Hotel in Sunnyside. He allegedly also set the hotel room on fire.
A woman in a nearby room, Losire Ramotswiri, 24, was injured and later died.
Kramer is charged with murder, kidnapping, theft with aggravating circumstances, arson and defeating the ends of justice.
Asked to book hotel room
Kramer has pleaded not guilty to all the charges except arson. Bernadee Cilliers, his ex-girlfriend, pleaded guilty to all the charges and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Holtzhausen, a salesman, testified on Wednesday that he and Kramer had been in detention together for about two-and-a-half months. According to him, Kramer boasted about what he had done and had a black-and-white photo of Maré's crushed head with him.
Kramer said in his statement, which was read in court, that he had been in a bar in Pretoria on the day of the alleged murder when Cilliers phoned him and asked him to book a hotel room for her and Maré.
Cilliers apparently phoned him back later, saying that something horrible had happened and he should come and fetch her.
When he arrived at the hotel, Maré was dead in the bath. He and Cilliers left the hotel, but later returned - because Cilliers insisted - with fuel and set the hotel room alight and fled.
The case continues on Thursday.