According to a postmortem report, slain Bay mother Vicki Terblanche ingested a cocktail of drugs, including powerful sedatives, ultimately leading to her death in October 2021.
The report was read to the Gqeberha high court on Wednesday, where her boyfriend, Reinhardt Leach, is standing trial for her murder.
While listing a number of substances found in her system, the evidence led in court revealed that there was no proof that Terblanche was ever suffocated.
Leach and his co-accused, Dylan Cullis, who has since been imprisoned after admitting to his role in the murder, both claimed that Terblanche was suffocated to death with a pillow after she was drugged.
The two men could not agree, however, as to who placed the pillow over her head, having both pointed the finger at each other.
Dr Annemarie Mattheus, a pathologist at the Mount Road police station mortuary, said there were several factors that made it difficult to determine whether Terblanche had died from suffocation.
According to the report, Terblanche had six potent substances, from well-known narcotics to medication used to treat mood disorders and epilepsy, in her system at the time of her death.
Besides methamphetamine, also known as tik, she also had traces of Alprazolam, Venlafaxine and Norvenlafaxine in her system, which are used to treat anxiety, depression and panic disorders.
She also tested positive for Lamotrigine, used to treat epileptic seizures, as well as Methaqualone, a powerful sedative with a high potential for addiction.
According to Mattheus, the presence of these sedatives made it difficult to identify suffocation, while the state of decomposition when Terblanche’s body finally made it to the mortuary, further complicated the process.
Her testimony was followed by that of Constable Chantell Witbooi, who was called to Terblanche’s Mill Park home after her disappearance.
Witbooi, who worked at the Mount Road police station’s community service centre at the time, told the court that she was called to the Westview Village complex by Charissa Roets, who is believed to be an estate agent in the area.
According to her, Roets had asked for a police officer to accompany her to Terblanche’s home on October 20.
Witbooi then met her at the property.
They did not enter the house, but did an inspection of the outside.
Besides noting damage to the garage door, they found nothing amiss, or any signs of forced entry.
Witbooi said she advised Roets to contact Terblanche’s next-of-kin so that a missing persons report could be filed.
She said Roets later sent her videos from the inside of the house showing evidence of substances that resembled dagga and Mandrax.
The court also heard voice recordings of messages Witbooi had sent to Roets after they exchanged numbers when Roets complained about being unable to reach the police station.
In one of the recordings, Witbooi asked Roets if she had sent her number to anyone else.
Witbooi said she had received calls from “a Mr Terblanche”, presumed to be the victim’s estranged husband, Arnold, inquiring from her about the investigation into Terblanche’s disappearance.
But she told him she had no new information to share with him.
The state alleges that Arnold and Leach conspired to kill Terblanche as the estranged husband and wife were going through an acrimonious divorce and custody battle over their minor son.
Leach allegedly killed his girlfriend and, along with Cullis and Section 204 witness Mario de Ridder Jnr, made arrangements to dispose of her body, which was later found in a shallow grave in Greenbushes.
Cullis is serving 18 years’ imprisonment, while De Ridder is yet to take the stand.
Arnold’s trial will be heard separately in October.
The Herald
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