Slain teen feared de Jager: State

140227. Cape Town. Double murder accused Johannes de Jager inside Court room 12 at the Western Cape High Court. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus. Reporter Natasha Prince

140227. Cape Town. Double murder accused Johannes de Jager inside Court room 12 at the Western Cape High Court. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus. Reporter Natasha Prince

Published Mar 26, 2014

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Cape Town - Teenager Charmaine Mare was clearly scared of her alleged killer Johannes Christiaan de Jager, the Western Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.

In closing argument, prosecutor Romay van Rooyen said messages sent from the 16-year-old's phone to friends in January last year indicated De Jager had not acted as a custodian should have.

“It paints a picture of someone who is really scared of the sexual advances of the accused,” she said.

“These messages all convey the deceased was being pestered to have sexual intercourse with the accused. That seems to be the golden thread that runs through all the witnesses' testimonies.”

De Jager, 49, has pleaded not guilty to killing the 16-year-old Mpumalanga resident, and not guilty to raping and killing 18-year-old prostitute Hiltina Alexander in 2008.

He and Mare were left alone at his Kraaifontein home last year after his girlfriend, son, and step-daughter went away on a four-day cruise.

He previously testified that Mare died in an accidental fatal fall in his bathroom and that he dismembered her body and set her torso alight in a panicked and shocked state.

Van Rooyen said the testimonies of various State witnesses corroborated the theory that Mare had not wanted to have sex with De Jager.

“The mere fact she was recording him (on her cellphone) meant she wanted evidence of it happening and that she wanted to convey to people that she was frightened of the accused.”

Van Rooyen said Mare had also been desperate to get away from De Jager.

She argued that when De Jager took to the stand, he tried to distance himself by claiming he wanted to sleep next to Mare, not with her.

However, he admitted in his warning statement to making sexual advances.

She said inconsistencies in his evidence-in-chief and cross-examination also added strength to the theory that he had not made an advance one evening but the whole time he was alone with Mare.

She said Nikita Small had testified that her friend Mare had contacted her and complained that De Jager was “vatterig en doen snaakse dinge” (touchy-feely and doing funny things).

He had been inconsistent when stating in his evidence-in-chief that nothing untoward happened on January 7 but then accusing Mare of enticing him that same day, during cross-examination.

“The accused is trying to sully the deceased by saying he is the victim, not the deceased,” Van Rooyen said.

Sapa

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