Durban - The man charged with murder after the body of a Muldersdrift woman was found in the back of his bakkie claims he did not kill her.
Rodney Renwick, 58, pleaded innocence on Tuesday in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
Asked whether he would get his own lawyer or apply for legal aid, he replied: “I would like a legal aid lawyer, please. I also ask that the charges be withdrawn against me because I did not do it.”
The magistrate cut Renwick short. “I am not listening to you. You need to speak through your lawyer,” she told him.
Renwick was arrested in Kya Sand on Sunday afternoon after a security guard who was chasing him found the body of Madeliene Wainman, also known as Maddie Schank, in the bakkie.
The State alleges that sometime before his arrest, Renwick was seen in the bushes in Kya Sand, his pants around his ankles.
The person who saw them allegedly said it was as if Renwick and the woman whose hand he was holding at the back of the bakkie wanted to have sex.
This was later reported as “suspicious activity” to RSS Security Services.
Reaction scene manager Kaptein Sibanda started looking for the bakkie. He saw a man with a spade walking in the bushes towards the dumping site.
“He ran when he saw me. As I chased him, I saw the bakkie I was looking for parked at the dumping site. But the driver sped off…
I got into my car and chased him. After cornering him, I took his keys out of the ignition and went to the back of the bakkie. I saw a foot poking under the mattress. When I removed it, I saw the body of a woman wrapped in a blanket.”
The Star