Franziska Blöchliger murder accused Howard Oliver’s legal representative dropped a bombshell in the Western Cape High Court yesterday, saying he was withdrawing from acting for him, citing ethical issues.
Advocate Ken Kloppe who had been representing Howard, accused of rape and murder, told the court he had tried his best to avoid the situation but he was “ethically obliged” to withdraw from the matter.
He said his approach, which had been based on the instruction he received, had changed due to the circumstances and that he had discussed this with Oliver.
Kloppe said another legal representative will have to take over. He said Oliver did not want him to withdraw. Oliver asked that a legal aid representative be appointed to represent him.
Blöchliger was raped, robbed and murdered in Tokai forest on March 7 last year.
An affidavit from investigating officer Jan Coetzee, from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences police task team, indicated that post-mortem reports showed Blöchliger had been anally and vaginally raped while her wrists were bound.
Kirstenhof resident Jared van Wyk yesterday described the grim discovery of the body, saying it was still “warm” at the time he and a woman walking her dogs found it in the forest last year.
Van Wyk made the discovery less than 30 minutes after he and his wife joined the search party for Blöchliger.
He said an alarm was raised about a missing 16-year-old girl and he first came across a “Nike takkie” in the forest and called in to control to get a full description of it.
“I got a full description of the Nike takkie and with that I got a chilled feeling. We realised we were not going to find the little girl [responding] when calling her by her name,” said Van Wyk.
The 38-year-old Van Wyk was testifying for the State at Oliver's trial in the Western Cape High Court.
Oliver, from Westlake, pleaded not guilty to the murder and rape charges, and said he had only robbed the teenager of her cellphone. He claims Blöchliger was still alive after he robbed her. Oliver is among four suspects initially arrested in connection with the teenager's murder.
Two others, Jerome Moses and Daniel Easter, were given a suspended sentence by the Wynberg Magistrate's Court after they pleaded guilty to buying Blöchliger’s stolen cellphone, while Jonathan Jonas abandoned his bail application.
Van Wyk yesterday told the court that he came across the body seconds after a woman walking her dogs asked him what he was looking for. “She screamed and I grabbed [her] against my chest and told her that she had seen enough.”
After asking the woman to leave the area, Van Wyk said eventually he saw Franziska’s body and called for assistance. “I then went to the body, felt the pulse on her wrists and neck and checked her body temperature, she was still warm."
The case was postponed to tomorrow.