When Vanessa van Rensburg was allegedly beaten with a whiskey bottle and strangled to death, there was no sign of forced entry and nothing was stolen.
The only other person allegedly present, according to the lead investigator, was her boyfriend, Rob Evans.
WO Xolile Kato said this when testifying for the state against Evans’ release on bail.
The drawn-out bail application reached its sixth day in the Humansdorp regional court on Friday.
During the early hours of April 20, 36-year-old Van Rensburg’s battered and bruised body was discovered on the lounge floor of Evans’ holiday home in Oyster Bay.
The two had been dating for about two years.
“There was an argument that built up.
“He is capable of causing her death,” Kato told the court.
Led by state prosecutor Bianca Burger, he went on to describe the events of the night before the murder.
“At 8pm, the alarm at the Oyster Bay home was triggered,” Kato said, adding that Calibre Security had then sent an armed response official, who lived next door to Evans’ house.
The guard therefore arrived quickly.
“After receiving the call, he went outside and could see Evans standing in front of [his] house.”
Kato said Evans then sat down on the window sill.
“He could see Evans was under the influence of alcohol.”
Burger pressed him further: “Did Evans himself not say that he was very drunk?”
“Yes,” Kato said.
Kato said Evans had even knocked over the glass beside him.
As the guard remained outside the house, the alarm was triggered a second time.
“He then saw the garage door open and Vanessa came walking out.
“Evans then started swearing at Vanessa, asking for the ‘f***ing keys’,” Kato told the court.
The security guard then offered to provide a spare key to the couple.
“Evans declined and told him he could leave. The security guard left with Evans still swearing at Vanessa,” he said.
Some time later, Evans allegedly phoned the same security company to ask for assistance.
“The same security guard was dispatched,” Kato said.
And that was when Van Rensburg’s body was found.
According to Kato, the security guard contacted a member of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), as emergency services often took a long time to arrive in such a remote town.
“When the guard and the NSRI [returned to the scene], Evans was not there,” Kato said.
At that point in his testimony, Van Rensburg’s mother, Charmaine Linde, burst into tears and had to walk out the courtroom to compose herself.
“The NSRI arrived and they tried to resuscitate her.
“The ambulance arrived and she was declared dead.
“The police then took over the case.
“Vanessa van Rensburg and Evans were the only two people in the house at the time of the murder.
“There was no force entry.
“And the deceased still had all her [jewellery].
“There was no sign of any intruder.”
As the investigation progressed, police took buccal samples from Evans and photographed his body.
Kato said Evans’ attorney, Paul Roelofse, was present during the process.
“Roelofse asked what would happen if Evans did not want to [co-operate].
“I said I can get a court order to force him,” Kato testified, adding that Evans then co-operated.
“He also had scratches,” Kato said.
Burger then turned to Evans’ account of the events that night, asking whether a fire had been lit in the braai room, as claimed in one of his three versions of that evening.
Evans had previously told the police that he had started a fire for a braai and when he exited the braai room, he found Van Rensburg’s body.
Kato confirmed that there were signs of coals but said they were not very warm and that the fire did not appear to have been stoked for some time.
“It could not be that someone else murdered her [so close] to the braai room and he could not hear it,” he said.
He said he even tested this theory during his investigation.
“I could hear everything going on in the living room.”
The bail application continues.
The Herald
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