Reprinted from http://tia-mysoa.blogspot.nl/2013/03/the-griekwastad-murder-trial.html Friday, March 15, 2013
Three charges of murder
A charge of defeating the ends of justice - for allegedly misleading police by making a false statement
A charge of rape -- (Possible Motive?)
- (In the Griekwastad case the accused is not saying anything, unlike the Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius who submitted a detailed Sworn Affidavit for the entire world to see very early in the proceedings.)
- The chances are thus extremely slim that the accused will be found guilty on this charge.
- If I may compare this trial to a boxing match then it is safe to declare that the defence has won the first round. This is based purely on the dilemma the State now has with the mysterious single fingerprint lifted from a drinking glass found lying near the back door of the farmhouse. If the police cannot find who this fingerprint belongs to then the only logical assumption to be made is that an unidentified person was on the scene, thereby validating the accused’s version of a possible farm attack. Bear in mind that the State has a duty to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.
A follow-up on recent events concerning the Griekwastad-murders
The Strange Case of the Steenkamp Triple Murders (Northern Cape)
The court case involving the murders of Northern Cape farmer Deon Steenkamp, his wife Christelle, and daughter Marthella, commenced on Monday this week in the Northern Cape High Court in Kimberley.
The majority of South African readers will already be familiar with the background details of this horrific tragedy, but for the record I’ll provide the following brief outline, (writes TIA-MYSOA)
"The shooting tragedy happened in the late afternoon of Easter Friday, on 6 April 2012. The only survivor was the Steenkamp’s teenager-son, who was 15 years old at the time of the murders (he turned sixteen on 15 August 2012). The police informed the teenager on 15 May 2012 that he was the main suspect in the case, but he was only officially arrested, at his school in Bloemfontein, much later on 21 August 2012.
Everybody already knows who the suspected child, 16 is - despite the 'Constitution' enshrining rights for juvenile justice...'
Due to his age he may not be identified, but thanks to Naspers and their tendency to be overly-hasty with sensational news -- most people already knows who the child is. Section 28 of South Africa’s (worthless) constitution defines a child as a person below the age of 18, and enshrines certain rights to juvenile justice: one way of respecting these rights is to avoid publishing negative and condemnatory information about the child. This factor, it seems, hasn’t bothered the almighty Naspers group of publications in the least, because they have found in the Steenkamp triple-murder case the ideal opportunity to carry out a ‘Sting Operation’ of immense proportions on the minds of their target audience, i.e. - Afrikaans-speaking Christians . It was this ‘bizarre and unimaginable’ Naspers-objective that a previous follow-up posting of mine was trying to convey.
The (accused) teenager said he was not in their home at the time of the shooting, but in a barn a few yards away from their house. He also claimed he heard the gunshots and thought it was a farm attack. He found his parents dead in the house and claimed that his sister died in his arms. He then drove a vehicle to the police station in the nearby town of Griekwastad, alerting farm workers on his way that there was a farm attack. He also claims that he found two firearms at the farm gate, picked them up and drove off.
I suspect (writes TIA-MYSOA) - the reason why there was such a long delay in arresting the teenager, may most likely be because there was initially 'no clear motive' for the killings.
This is the farmhouse which 'Don Would Have Inherited". Rich pickings? 
Above: An Afrikaans Rapport headline-article, dated 5 August 2012, made a rather audacious attempt at providing a motive, for the entire nation to see, when they published a front-page story titled, “Don erf alles” - (English: "Don inherits everything"). Click here to see a scanned copy of the front-page (or see above_ or click here to read the relevant posting on this blog. Photo Farmhouse: Copyright: Mary-Ann Palmer
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The media reports concerning this tragedy are truly frustrating, especially when journalists make wild assumptions, or when they try influencing people's perceptions. Another example of this phenomenon, which was obviously made for purposes of sensationalism, is the route allegedly taken by the accused when he travelled to the police station. Several Naspers reports have stressed the fact that the kid "took the long way round". However, a quick look at Google Maps reveals thatit was in fact the shortest route, as it leads directly north in the direction of Griekwastad.
Bear in mind that the kid used a vehicle (bakkie) that could handle bad roads at higher speeds than the average car, and that he also wanted to warn farm workers along the way - so he said.
Click here and also see above to view the same graphic presentation of the crime scene by Theuns Kruger from Naspers' Graphics24. Note the remarks on the left at point #6.
Click here or see below to see a bird’s-eye view of the Naauwhoek farm on Google Maps, and decide for yourself which route is shorter. It will also be most interesting to see what conclusions the court will make in this regard.
The juvenile-accused pleaded not guilty to all charges at commencement of the criminal trial this week. The charges include:
The two last-mentioned charges were added to the charge sheet on 18 February 2013.
Explanation of Plea
At the time of pleading the boy's lawyer, Willem Coetzee, submitted - there was no plea explanation. The procedure “Explanation of Plea” (Afr.: “Pleitverduideliking”) relates basically to a voluntary procedure which aims to eliminate unnecessary evidence by establishing exactly what the accused wishes to place in dispute by his plea of not guilty. (S v Seleke 1980(3) SA 745 (A) at 753G) The procedure was introduced into the criminal trial process following upon proposals made by Hiemstra. It is now well entrenched in our criminal trial process, and has several time-saving advantages. However, it can only take place with the consent of the accused.
According to the new charge sheet in the Steenkamp triple-murders the State’s list of witnesses has grown from 76 to 91. These witnesses include family members, neighbours, friends, business associates, farm labourers, pathologists, doctors, psychologists, various policemen involved in the examination, including crime scene specialists and State forensic analysts -- specialized in various scientific fields of expertise, such as: ballistics, biology, and chemistry, for example. Click here to read more about the various specialized units in the Forensic Science Laboratory.
Motive - Rape?
The State alleges that Marthella was first raped before she was killed with her parents on the fateful day, and that the dreadful deed provides a possible motive for the murders. However, the media reported earlier that there was speculation over whether surface bruises to the girl’s genitals could be the result of horse-riding or due to a possible struggle.
According to Rapport, who cited a forensic expert on the matter, no semen or DNA linking the accused was found inside Marthella. The expert reckons Marthella’s injuries were about 24 hours old and are typical of injuries that could have been caused by someone who attempted forceful sexual penetration without her consent. See earlier news reports on News24.com and Rapport for further details.
The Mysterious Fingerprint on the Drinking Glass near Back Door:
Although it may be somewhat early to deliver weighty opinions regarding the guilt of the accused at this point in time as the trial is nowhere near complete yet and the REAL experts must still testify, there are a few related aspects that can comfortably be reflected upon.
My guess is that the fingerprint in all probability belongs to a person who wasn't thinking straight and who was present on the crime scene immediately after the killings took place, but the possibility also exists that the glass had been lying there long before the murders occurred. If the State is serious about this case, the police will thus have to follow-up quickly on this unexplained piece of evidence.
Then there are the other dilemmas created by the incompetence of State witness Lieutenant Andre McAnda, a Forensic Field Worker who made some serious bungles while collecting evidence on the crime scene. His excuse that "he is only human and that his errors were due to long working hours and trauma experienced at crime scenes" is totally unacceptable. It does, however, portray the current chaotic state of the police force AND the entire country, which has been slipping into a state of absolute turmoil for quite some time now… Absolute National Chaos (ANC), I tell you!
It is my guess that forensic evidence related to blood, blood-splatter, and ballistic related phenomenon are going to play a crucial role in this case. Aspects concerning forensic ballistics, as it relates to this specific case, were already dealt with in two older updates, namely: Part 2 and Part 3. Part 3 deals with the finer aspects of Forensic Ballistics, including the Primary Residue Test.
Although it is interesting to note that the Primary Residue Test was done on the suspected youth on the same day of the shooting, a positive outcome is unfortunately going to prove nothing in this case. By his own admission the boy handled the two firearms when he picked them up at the farm gate. The real value of the Primer Residue test is that it can associate an individual with a firearm. However, it cannot identify a specific person as the definite shooter, because a person can pick up the residue simply by handling a dirty weapon or discharged ammunition components. - (Source: Gunshot Primer Residue – The Invisible Clue)
The trial continued on Monday, 18 March. The court will alsoholds an Inspection In Loco on the crime scene on that Monday. We will no doubt be reading all about it in the news next week, first thing on Tuesday morning. Updates about the case can be read on the exclusive dedicated pages of News24 and Volksblad.
Previous posts related to the Griekwastad tragedy:
(Listed from the latest to the oldest)