Cape Town – “I thought it was a white plastic bag, a huge garbage bag at first, but when I looked again I could see it was a body. I screamed.”
This is how 56-year-old nurse Yvonne Elger reacted when she stumbled upon the body of 16-year-old Franziska Blöchliger’s body in Tokai Forest.
Elger had been walking her dogs when she found the teenager’s body. At the time of the discovery, the local neighbourhood watch and police were already conducting a search.
A shocked gallery in the Western Cape High Court gasped in horror when the naked body of the 16-year-old was shown in video footage lying face-down in the bushes.
Her parents had attended the trial for the first time.
Howard Oliver, 28, faces two charges of rape, robbery and murder. Franziska had going missing while jogging with her mother in Tokai Forest a year ago.
The video, which was taken by Warrant Officer Dumisa Dumako, who was stationed at the False Bay Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit, was presented in court as evidence.
The three-minute-long clip was taken about four hours after the body was found at about 10.15pm. Dumako said when the body was turned, soil trickled off her face.
“Her hands were tied together; they were to her chest,” said Dumako.
Both parents were called to the stand to testify.
Shireen Blöchliger, Franziska’s mother, relived the tragic day when she lost her daughter.
Her hands shook and her eyes were red from crying, but she tried to control her emotions as she stood under oath.
She told the court that Franziska had been jogging to keep fit for her upcoming trip to Switzerland, where she would have taken part in a school exchange programme for three months.
The mom said her daughter was used to running in Tokai and when Franziska didn’t get back at the agreed time, she didn't suspect anything was amiss.
“Franziska was not used to any kind of violence; that’s not how we raised our kids,” she said.
She said her daughter would not have fought back.
“She would give her phone.”
The teenager's father, Andreas Blöchliger, was choked up with emotion.
“She was an angel. She was fantastic; we were a very close,” he sobbed.
Earlier in court, Oliver pleaded not guilty to the two rape charges and the murder charge.
He admitted to attacking Franziska and robbing her of her iPhone. Oliver said he had just smoked mandrax when he saw Franziska jogging.
“I grabbed her but she was strong and I dragged her to the bushes. I used her shoelace to tie her wrists, mouth; but I took her pants off but not her panties,” he said.
Oliver said during the attack, the 16-year-old passed out, but she was still breathing. He said he fled the scene, but got a sense that someone else was in the bushes.
Oliver said while in prison, a man had admitted to being at the forest on the same day.
The trial continues.