Cape Town – Slain prostitute Hiltina Alexander was last seen getting into a white bakkie, the same car as that of her murder accused, her friend Colin Jacobs told the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday.

Jacobs, 26, was the first witness to testify in the trial of 48-year-old Johannes Christiaan de Jager.

De Jager has pleaded not guilty to raping and killing Alexander on 18 May 2008 and to killing Charmaine Mare in January 2013. He admitted that he dismembered Mare’s corpse in a state of panic after an accidental fatal fall.

Jacobs said he and his brother were walking to a bar in Parow, Cape Town, when he bumped into Alexander. She got into a silver BMW and joined them a short while later in the bar, where she bought them a beer.

They later made their way home along Voortrekker Road. She mentioned she had one condom left and whistled when she saw a white bakkie driving past.

A man got out of the bakkie and went into a shop. He came out soon after.

“Tina walked with him across the street to the bakkie. He got in and she walked around. Tina gave me a hand sign that she’ll be coming back again,” Jacobs testified.

He said she never returned and they eventually went home. He later went to her ex-boyfriend’s house and he mentioned that she could be in Pollsmoor Prison because he also had not seen her.

Her body was found on 19 May 2008, but a detective only informed him a week later.

At that stage he was a suspect and decided to look out for the bakkie.

He saw it outside a workshop on his way to gym one day. He phoned the detective to make his way to the scene.

Jacobs testified that he asked who the owner of the bakkie was and De Jager was called.

He said De Jager recognised him and wanted to lock the workshop up, so he grabbed the bakkie’s keys to make sure he would not drive away.

Police called

De Jager apparently took out a gun and Jacobs gave the keys back to him. Police arrived on the scene and took control of the situation.

He said officers found an earring under a mat in the bakkie, which he recognised as belonging to Alexander.

During cross-examination, Jacobs said he could not remember whether it was a Saturday or Sunday night he last saw his friend.

He also changed his testimony from making one statement to making two statements to police.

Lawyer Sakkie Maartens asked whether he had been Alexander’s pimp, to which he replied no.

He said they had been having a sexual relationship.

The cross-examination continues on Thursday.

– SAPA