Cape Town - A married couple, who are also heroin addicts, are accused of killing two people in separate murder cases – one of whom was their drug dealer.
On Wednesday, Observatory residents Craig and Bridget Smeddle, parents of a three-year-old, shared the dock in the Cape Town Regional Court in connection with garrotting Edwin Chukwuemka, a drug dealer from Bedford Street in Observatory, on July 19, 2011.
In a separate case they are accused of killing a Table View man, Bob Simmonds, whose flat Bridget cleaned once or twice a week. They are out on bail of R4 000 each in that case.
The Chukwuemka trial has been running for three years and the State had already closed its case.
The court heard earlier that the couple had arranged to meet Chukwuemka to buy heroin and to settle their debt. The Smeddles say Chukwuemka attacked them and they acted in self-defence.
It is the State’s case that they strangled him with a garrotte wire, then stabbed him.
After their arrest the Smeddles were released on bail of R2 000 each on condition that they sought help for their heroin addiction at a drug rehabilitation centre.
On Wednesday, forensic scientist Dr David Klatzow testified in their defence.
Based on an experiment using a piglet, Klatzow attempted to show whether the garrotte used could have cut into Chukwuemka’s neck and caused the wounds found during the autopsy
“I don’t believe the incised wounds were caused by that garrotte,” Klatzow said.
Klatzow was so determined to prove his theory that he offered to demonstrate on his assistant in court.
“You have a very brave assistant,” remarked Magistrate Victor Gibson, which led to giggles across the public gallery.
“You will break this wire before you cut the skin,” Klatzow said.
The piglet was used because the animal’s skin is remarkably similar in structure to human skin, Klatzow said. He set out to conduct the experiment to show whether the wire could cut through the skin and clothing.
Earlier this year, while still out on bail for Chukwuemka’s murder, the couple were arrested in connection with the murder of Robert Simmonds of Table View. They appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court and were released on R4 000 bail in that case.
Simmonds’s strangled and stabbed body was found in the bathroom of his flat on July 16. Police said he had been reported missing by his friends.
Several items were missing from the flat, as was his vehicle. Some of the items were reportedly traced to a Cash Crusaders shop.
The Smeddles were arrested after witnesses allegedly saw them leaving the flat.
The State said the couple had been charged with breaching their bail conditions and defeating the ends of justice by approached a State witness and asking the witness not to identify them.
They are on bail of R1 000 each in this case.
The matter was postponed to February 23 next year.
Cape Argus