The body of Cordelia Prinsloo was covered in “an enormous” number of flies and maggots when it was discovered, wrapped in plastic, in a flower bed on the plot she shared with her former husband, the Pretoria High Court has heard.
Dr Sandra van der Nest, the pathologist who performed an autopsy on the body of Cordelia, took the stand on Wednesday in the trial of prominent Pretoria geologist, Cobus Prinsloo, who is facing a charge of murder.
It is alleged that he asked his gardener, Lucas Moloi, to kill his wife in return for R50 000 and a house.
Moloi has been sentenced to serve 18 years in prison after admitting that he hit the woman twice on the head with a garden spade.
He said he attacked Cordelia as she watering the flowers on the morning of October 12, 2009.
He wrapped her body in plastic, so the blood would not get on to his clothes, and dumped it in a bed of tall flowers.
He said Prinsloo had told him he would take care of the body.
Cordelia’s body was found a day later by Prinsloo.
An inspection of the scene by the judge and the various parties showed that the flower bed in which the body was found was visible from the bathroom window off the main bedroom.
Prinsloo lived in the main house, while Cordelia had been staying in a smaller house a few metres away.
Van der Nest said she visited the scene when the body was discovered at around 11 the next morning.
She said the body of a woman was found, covered with maggots and flies, under flowers in the garden.
The body was wrapped in plastic. The head had a double layer of plastic around it. The body was partially decomposed as the weather was wet and humid. Plastic around a body also enhanced decomposition,
Cordelia was lying on her side. The body bore marks suggesting it had been dragged to where it was found. The woman was dressed in what appeared to be pink pajamas.
The pathologist estimated the time of death to have been, at most, 36 hours before the body was discovered.
The autopsy found Cordelia had extensive brain injuries and multiple skull fractures, especially at the back of the head. She must have at least been struck twice on the head, Van der Nest said.
She testified that what struck her as she left the plot after the body was recovered was the number of flies that followed the vehicle.
Prinsloo denied any knowledge of his former wife’s murder and said Moloi had acted on his own initiative. He said Moloi was upset about his wages and about having to work as a gardener, instead of as a security guard – a job he had been trained to do.
(Proceeding) - Pretoria News