Cape Town - State pathologist Dr Nadene-Louise Scherman on Wednesday described the horrific injuries suffered by slain siblings Faith and Conray Adams from Vredenburg as “overkill“.
Taking the stand at the Western Cape High Court, Scherman from the Malmesbury Forensic Pathology Services, said it was upsetting to conduct the post-mortems of the two children.
Scherman was testifying at the murder trial of Derick Kalmeyer, tried for killing the children of his former girlfriend, Frizaan Adams, in May 2019.
The 54-year-old man, who is allegedly a member of the 28s gang, faces two counts of murder, two of attempted murder and one of resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
According to the State’s case Kalmeyer arrived home and started an argument with Frizaan and her friend.
The State alleges that he attacked the two women with a crowbar and as they fled for their lives he stabbed 3-year-old Faith with a beer bottle and flung Conray, who was only 18 months old, through a closed window, causing the glass to shatter all over his body.
Police were called to the scene where they found a knife near Faith’s body. When police arrested Kalmeyer he allegedly threatened to stab the police officer with a piece of metal.
Addressing the court yesterday, Scherman said Faith had died after being stabbed 19 times. During the post-mortem examination she found that a sharp object had caused damage to various organs, including the girl’s heart, lungs and liver.
She found that the child had been stabbed 10 times in her right arm and said this could indicate possible defensive wounds.
Scherman said Conray suffered blunt force injury to the front of his head, which she said could have been caused by a fall or being hit with a blunt object.
During the examinations, she found that the baby boy had been stabbed 14 times and various organs including his heart, lungs and liver were injured.
Conray also had a skull fracture and several stab wounds to his left arm which could possibly have been defensive wounds.
Asked if she wanted to add anything, she turned and said: “It was very upsetting doing these examinations. Whoever is responsible … it was overkill. Especially for a child and an 18-month-old who could not have defended themselves.”
The trial continues.