Cape Town - The owner of Vaderlandsche Farm in Philippi on Wednesday described murder accused Jeremy Sias as “dependable” and a “good guy” in the Western Cape High Court, where he stands accused of killing 29-year-old Meghan Cremer.
Sias has been charged with four counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft and defeating the administration of justice, for his alleged attack on Cremer, whose body was found on August 8, 2019, 5 days after she was reported missing.
Geoffrey Mohr, the owner of the farm where Cremer lived and Sias worked, said that Sias grew up on the farm next door and had been employed as a general worker at Vaderlandsche, on and off, since he was a teenager.
Mohr was being questioned by State advocate Emily Van Wyk and, while he seemed unsure about many of the details pertaining to Cremer’s interaction on the farm, he said that he had a “very good” relationship with Sias and he had “no problem with him”.
“You could depend on him. He was good guy,” Mohr said.
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He confirmed to the court that Sias had been working on the farm on the day Cremer went missing because he had seen him on one of the eight cameras on the property, but was unable to say when, if ever, Sias and Cremer may have exchanged words.
It is alleged that Sias broke into Cremer’s cottage on the farm, violently assaulted her beyond the point of recognition, killed her, and then stuffed her body in the boot of her car. It is also alleged that he then drove Cremer’s car around the Philippi area, looking for a spot to dump her body.
Sias’s lawyer advocate Mohamed Sibda told the court that his client did indeed drive the vehicle that night when he went partying with his friends, but denies that he killed her. Sibda said his client left the party to return the car to where he found it, but then discovered the body.
“It was then the first time that he saw the body in the boot, he was completely shocked and horrid to see this.
“Because he was in possession of the vehicle for the whole night and because he had already used the cards that he found, and because he had taken one phone, he was in a state of panic and he felt that he would be accused of killing the deceased. It was in those circumstances that he drove off with the intention of disposing of the deceased body,” Sibda said.
Sias has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial continues.