Experts to run tests at murder farm

Published Mar 18, 2013

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A ballistics team will be sent to the farm Naauwhoek near Griquatown where three members of the Steenkamp family were found murdered inside their house on Good Friday last year.

This will be a follow-up visit to an in loco inspection that was undertaken by Northern Cape High Court Judge President Frans Kgomo, the prosecution and the defence on Monday.

Amongst others, tests will be done to determine at what distance gunshots can be heard from the shed.

The 16-year-old boy, who has been charged with murders, apparently told the police that he rushed out of the shed when he heard gunshots. He then discovered the bodies of the three victims inside the house.

Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christel, 43 and their daughter Marthella, 14, were shot several times and were found lying on the floor.

The boy has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape and defeating the ends of justice.

Attorneys for the defence indicated that they were still deciding whether he will testify in the trial.

The legal entourage and members of the media, left from the Griquatown police station yesterday morning to retrace what happened on the night of April 6 2012.

A stop was made about four kilometres along a dirt road on the ten kilometre journey to the farm, where an abandoned bakkie was found on the right hand side of the road on the night of the murders.

The convoy also stopped at the homes of the farm workers . . . a few metres from the main gate of the Steenkamp residence.

Apart from the sprinklers that were watering the grass, there was no activity at the farm house.

The team examined bullet holes in the wall of the shed as well as in the living room, 28 metres away.

Exhibit markers were placed where the stones, which were covered in blood, were discovered and the drinking glasses that were discarded on the lawn outside the house.

The accused leaned on the counter, with his head resting on his arms, inside the farm house for a few seconds while a record was made of where the bodies were discovered.

He was accompanied by his guardian, who indicated that it was not the teenager’s first visit to the house after the murders, although it was still difficult for him to go there.

The guardian added that the boy had completed his school work for the term and that the court proceedings were not interfering with his academic work.

He is still receiving tuition material from Grey College in Bloemfontein while a teacher from the Panorama Combined School visits twice a week to assist him where necessary.

The small holding, Klein Naauwhoek, was the last stop after which Kgomo ended the inspection.

The case will continue in the Northern Cape High Court on Tuesday.

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