This is how I escaped with my life - Hannah Cornelius kidnapping witness

Cape Town - Cheslin Marsh, the only witness to the kidnapping of Hannah Cornelius who was later raped and murdered, recalls closing his eyes while resting his head on a brick, praying, while his attacker stood over his head.

“They took me out of the car and led me to a bushy area we stopped by a tree. They then told me to lie on the ground and place my head on the brick.

“The two men were each holding a brick. I closed my eyes and prayed. I don't remember what happened afterwards,” Marsh sobbed in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.

He said he only regained consciousness the following afternoon.

Cheslin Marsh is comforted by his mother, Marilyn Marsh, during a tea break in the Western Cape High Court. He was very emotional in the witness box. Picture: Zodidi Dano/Cape Argus

“My whole body was in pain, but I could stand. I looked around to see where am I, and ran to the first house I saw,” an emotional Marsh said.

He remembered climbing the wall to the house and the home owners calling the police.

He was rushed to Kraaifontein Day Hospital where he received treatment and was later transferred to Tygerberg Hospital, and later Paarl Hospital.

Pictures admitted as evidence presented to the court show the extent of Marsh's injuries sustained on May 27, 2017.

Cornelius was last seen hours before her death with Marsh, before they were brutally attacked by four men while in her car in Bird Street, Stellenbosch.

Pictures admitted as evidence presented to the court show the extent of Marsh's injuries sustained on May 27, 2017.

Marsh was found by a couple, Averal and Margaret Fortuin, in Barnardino Heights. He was drenched in blood. He had sustained serious head injuries and a broken arm.