Cape Town - A vigorous debate ensued in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday, where Godfrey Jantjies stands accused of the murder of 3-year-old Robyn-Lee Gertse.
Robyn-Lee was found dead on May 24, 2015. Jantjies allegedly abused her by assaulting her and exposing her to behaviour that harmed her psychologically or emotionally.
Judge Vincent Saldanha asked State advocate Leon Snyman if the State was relying on what had been referred to as a pattern of abuse inflicted upon Robyn-Lee by Jantjies.
The State alleges that Jantjies hit Robyn-Lee in the face with a kettle, which resulted in the area around her eye turning blue. It also emerged that Robyn-Lee had a fractured jaw, which the State alleged could have been inflicted by Jantjies.
The evidence presented in court was that Gertse had died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen and had been complaining about stomach pain before she died.
After going through the details surrounding evidence to prove abuse by Jantjies, Judge Saldanha asked Snyman to provide an alternative to the charge of abuse.
Snyman said, “At the very least at the time when Robyn-Lee was in the care of Mr. Jantjies during the hours when Ms. Smit left, obviously this child’s condition deteriorated at the time – she’s getting worse as time goes by. Mr. Jantjies does not seek out any medical treatment for Robyn-Lee and it was canvassed during cross examination what the possible options were.
“When Ashleen returned home we know that Robyn-Lee was already far gone, she was in a bad shape – just lying there, eyes open, unresponsive and warm. She (Smit) then sends Mr Jantjies to collect medication. Mr Jantjies decides ‘I’m rather going to purchase a unit of drugs and smoke that and then I’m going to tend to this child’ and he comes back with the Panado,” said Snyman.
The judge reminded Snyman that that this case was important because a child died in the care of her parents and that the condition which caused her death could have been prevented.
Judge Saldanha said, “Had she received medical attention for the stomach, the child would not have died and that should have been done on the Saturday morning but they were too busy.
“The mother was too busy preparing for a party she had to go to and he was too busy cajoling with his friends smoking tik and drinking beer the entire day. Not concerned at all about the child, that is what is egregious in this matter… that is what this case is really about,” Judge Saldanha said.
Jantjies has denied that he was responsible for the death of Gertse and said that the only injuries that he was aware of were caused by accident.