How baby Kayla died

Rapist shot her in the chest to ‘finish her off’, court told

Pretoria – A 17-year-old girl, the sole survivor of a rape and murder spree, told yesterday how she saw her two rapists callously shoot one-year-old baby Kayla Rawstone after raping the infant’s mother.

The girl, who testified in camera in the High Court, said baby Kayla had gurgled as blood poured from her mouth before William Kekana, 19, “finished her off” with a second bullet to the chest. The girl said Kekana had also shot her in the head, but she survived.

The family’s slaughter was a crime that shocked South Africa and led to calls for a return of the death penalty.

Kekana has pleaded guilty to 10 of the 14 counts against him, including that of raping and attempting to murder the teenager, who is now the only eyewitness. He also confessed to kidnapping the family and the 17-year-old. He denies killing baby Kayla and her mother, Janine Drennen, 24.

Kekana was arrested on August 13 last year for the hijacking and abduction of Kayla, her mother and grandmother Hester Rawstone, 52, after Kayla’s first birthday party in Sunnyside, Pretoria.

The 17-year-old’s testimony was taken on Tuesday and related in part to reporters by State advocate Dewald Reynierse yesterday.

The girl described how she and Mrs Drennen had each been raped by Kekana and his partner, Fido Baloyi, who was shot dead while police tried to arrest him.

Mr Reynierse said the witness had related that she and her boyfriend had been on their way back from a friend’s house, where she had wanted to collect a book for homework.

She and her boyfriend saw a car approaching and it stopped. Kekana jumped out and pointed a gun at them.

The girl was ordered into the back seat of the car with a “white woman and a baby in a baby seat”, and her boyfriend was let go.

As they drove away, the woman used sign language to tell her that she had already been shot in the leg and they were going to be killed.

Their abductors drove to an open veld area and ordered the two women out of the car.

Kayla was “crying hysterically” in her car seat.

The two women were ordered to undress. They took off their pants and underwear and she was taken by Kekana to the back of the car and ordered to hold onto the boot.

The girl said Mrs Drennen had been taken by Baloyi to the front passenger seat of the car and raped, after which the men swapped and she was raped by Baloyi in the front seat.

The witness said she could not see “the white lady” being raped by Kekana.

After the second rape, the girl said, Mrs Drennen went to the car and took out the baby, who was by now crying hysterically.

She walked to Baloyi, but the witness could not hear the conversation.

This was when Kekana allegedly shot Mrs Drennen in the lower back and Baloyi fired the first shot at Kayla. She said Baloyi then went to the baby and shot her in the face. After that both men shot at the “white lady” randomly until she fell to the ground silent.

Kekana then went to the baby, who was still alive, and shot her in the chest. The witness was then ordered to lie on the ground on her back. She described how Kekana then shot her in the head.

“He asked her if she was still alive, but she remained silent,” Mr Reynierse said.

The attackers then drove off.

The girl got dressed and walked to her boyfriend’s house, from where she called the police.

She was treated in hospital, but still has a bullet embedded in her face. Acting for the defence, advocate Janus Roothman said his client had agreed to planning the attack, but had wanted to back out after Mrs Drennen was shot in the back of the car for answering her cellphone.

He told the court that he had been shot in the knee by Baloyi, forcing him to co-operate. The witness agreed that Kekana had been limping before she was raped.

Pictures taken of the crime scene showed a half-naked Mrs Drennen lying half on her side. The body of Kayla was near hers.

Earlier, the court heard that Mrs Rawstone had been shot dead and thrown out of the vehicle after answering her cellphone. – Sapa

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