Daily Archives: March 13, 2014

Forensic Expert back for Pistorius trial


Pretoria – Day nine of Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial in the North Gauteng High Court will see forensic expert Colonel Johannes Vermeulen back in the witness stand.

On Wednesday, he disputed Pistorius’s claim that he was wearing his prosthetic legs when he broke down a locked door to reach his dying girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Vermeulen told the court that the disabled athlete was on his stumps both when he shot at the door and when he battered it down with a cricket bat.

At prosecutor Gerrie Nel’s request, Vermeulen demonstrated the angle at which he had to swing the bat to strike the door where it left a dent made on the night of the shooting.

The mark was 1.53 metres from the bottom of the door of the toilet cubicle in Pistorius’s home in which Steenkamp was shot dead.

Vermeulen was the first policeman to take the stand since Pistorius went on trial last week.

The Paralympian pleaded not guilty to the charge of Steenkamp’s premeditated murder.

Vermeulen’s testimony appeared to take Pistorius’s defence by surprise, and advocate Barry Roux complained that he felt “ambushed”.
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Pupil’s death yet to be probed


Johannesburg – An investigation into how a 5-year-old boy died at a Soweto school last month has yet to be launched, the Gauteng education department said on Wednesday.
The Grade R pupil died after being run over by a lawnmower at the school.

Spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane said the department would appoint independent investigators to conduct the probe.

“When there’s an incident like this, we appoint someone externally so there is an independent view,” she said.

“We never use our own people so that there are no cover-ups or anything like that.”

The Grade R pupil died after being run over by a lawnmower at the school.

It was unclear whether anyone from the school had been held accountable.

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Bodies still missing as floods calm down


Johannesburg – Four people were still missing in Mpumalanga and Limpopo on Wednesday after extensive flooding in several parts of the country.
Two women, aged 64 and 69, have been missing from Makhado and Bela-Bela since the weekend, police spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

“She [the 64-year-old from Makhado] left Tshitale village in the morning to get some wood. She had to cross the Mambedi River at some point and her dog, which she usually travels with, returned to the house alone.”

Persistent rain made it difficult to recover the body of a 69-year-old woman who was swept away with her husband while swimming in Bela-Bela at the weekend.

The two were swimming in an undercover swimming pool at the Kariba Lodge on Friday when the Bela-Bela dam overflowed and they were swept away.

The body of her 74-year-old husband was found on Saturday.

A 15-year-old youth who was reported missing on Monday was found, Mulaudzi said.

The boy was crossing the river with a friend on Monday.

“They were swept away, but the friend managed to grab onto an object and get himself to safety. He then alerted police about his friend.”

“The family did not alert police that he was found [on Monday]. But he is back at school now,” Mulaudzi said.

In Gauteng, Johannesburg emergency management services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said no drownings had been reported on Wednesday.

“We are just busy with mop-up operations around the city.”

Affected by flooding

Earlier, Mulaudzi said about 100 homes were affected by flooding in Zandspruit, near Honeydew, west of Johannesburg on Tuesday.

An emergency shelter was set up in the area for the displaced group of about 200, but they were reluctant to leave their belongings behind, Mulaudzi said.

Diepsloot and Ivory Park were also affected by the flooding. No drownings were reported in both areas, he said.

“We will continue to monitor the affected areas.”

In Tshwane, 10 homes collapsed in an informal settlement in Stinkwater on Tuesday afternoon.

“We assisted in organising alternative accommodation, blankets, and food parcels,” emergency management services spokesperson Johan Pieterse said.

Power had been restored to Mamelodi, Silverton and Samcor Park after the areas experienced power failures due to the heavy rains.

Nellmaphius and a few outstanding streets in Watloo were still out of power, City of Tshwane spokesman Moeketsi Bokaba said.

The two areas were expected to be switched back on by Wednesday evening.

“Consumers are advised to treat all electrical points ‘as live’. Switch off all non-essential appliances to assist with the load on the electrical network.”

March showers

Water affairs department spokesman Themba Khumalo said the rain in Gauteng was the most persistent for the March period in 14 years.

“This is confirmed by the weather services,” he said.

The department was trying to control dam levels in the province.

“If we don’t, they will burst.”

He said places such as Vereeniging would be in danger of being flooded if the Vaal Dam were to burst. The dam was currently 105% full.

“By yesterday [Tuesday] we had opened eight sluice-gates to control the levels so that the water would flow into the Vaal River.

“That puts the river at [risk] of overflowing too.”

He said those who lived near rivers should ensure that they were a good distance from the flood-lines.

“In places like the Jukskei River in Alexandra residents build homes below the flood-lines which is why every year they are affected [by heavy rain and floods],” Khumalo said.

SA weather services forecaster Ezekiel Sebego said there was a severe weather watch for Wednesday and Thursday for the eastern parts of North West, Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.

By the weekend the wet weather would move to other parts of the country, he said.

“By Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the rain will be moving to lesser affected provinces [such as] half of North West and the Free State.

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I wasn’t a danger to her- murder accused


Cape Town – Slain Mpumalanga teenager Charmaine Mare was never in danger while staying in Cape Town, the Western Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.
“I cannot ever say I was a danger to her. I never once physically molested her or assaulted her,” testified her guardian at the time, Johannes Christiaan de Jager.

De Jager, 49, has denied killing Mare last January while his girlfriend, her daughter and his son were away on a cruise.

He maintains she fell to her death when he grabbed her arm in the bathroom.

Prosecutor Romay van Rooyen pointed to behaviour that seemed to contradict De Jager’s view of himself.

She asked why Mare’s friend in Mpumalanga tried to phone Kraaifontein police four times to ask them to go to De Jager’s home.

“I don’t know why,” he replied.

She asked why Mare would send cellphone voice recordings of him making advances towards her, to her friends.

He said he could not answer for her.

“Do you not think maybe it was a cry for help to people she knew to help her get away?” Van Rooyen asked.

De Jager said if the teenager had been in trouble, she would have said something to the teenage girls across the road.

He said he organised a braai a week before her death in which she was introduced to everyone in the neighbourhood.

Van Rooyen asked why Mare had asked a local estate agent for money.

“He only told me that she wanted money and wanted to go back to the Transvaal and that he gave her his telephone number, probably for her to call or when there’s trouble,” he said.

The prosecutor asked why Mare was so desperate to get away that she would borrow money from a stranger.

“In discussions with her, she said she missed her parents so I assume she wanted to go back [to Mpumalanga].”

The trial continues.

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Arms Commission adjourned


Johannesburg – The Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the 1999 arms deal adjourned on Wednesday.
The inquiry would resume on Monday, spokesperson William Baloyi said in a statement.

He said two witnesses from arms parastatal Armscor – Barry de Beer and Pieter Burger – had completed their testimony.

A third witness from Armscor, Fritz Nortje, would take the stand on Monday.

The commission, sitting in Pretoria and headed by Judge Willie Seriti, is investigating allegations of corruption into the multi-billion rand arms deal.

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