KATRINA Conradie, the mother of murdered eight-year-old Charmaine Conradie, only reported her daughter‘s disappearance two days after she was last seen alive because she thought the child was visiting friends, the Oudtshoorn Circuit Court heard yesterday.

Conradie was the first of 48 state witnesses due to testify against a member of her family, Andries Jaftha, 42, who is accused of abducting, raping and murdering Charmaine on February 8 last year.

Her body was found near the Calitzdorp rubbish dump a week later.

Jaftha, in his plea explanation read by legal aid lawyer Wentzel Botha, told the court he was nowhere near the rubbish dump on the day that Charmaine disappeared.

He said he fetched his weekly wages at a bus stop near the suburb of Bergsig and then went shopping with his wife. Afterwards he visited Chrissie Baadjies and later went for drinks at the house of a woman identified only as Hennah.

Jaftha said he went home at 8pm and went to sleep.

He was arrested while police were searching for Charmaine.

Investigating officer Inspector Fanie le Roux testified that Jaftha pointed out certain areas after which searchers found Charmaine‘s body.

“The child‘s body was full of maggots and badly decomposed,” he said.

There was a nylon bag over her head and he picked up a nylon rope near her body.

The cause of death could not be determined as the body was too decomposed.

No material linking Jaftha to Charmaine‘s death could be found on her body or on his clothing.

The defence put it to Le Roux that Jaftha was assaulted by police and was still suffering from a back injury.

Le Roux said the accused had hurt his back in a tractor accident. “I pulled his hospital records that prove this.”

Charmaine‘s aunt, Janetta Conradie, said the little girl and her friends often played at the rubbish dump and that she was there on the day of her disappearance.

Speaking outside the court, Charmaine‘s father, Daniel Loff, said: “I just want to know who killed my child and that the person responsible is properly punished.”

His older daughter from a previous relationship, Johanna Moses, 29, was found murdered in the same area a month after Charmaine‘s death.

The trial continues.