Cape Town - The Meghan Cremer murder trial took a drastic turn in the Western Cape High Court on Monday when Vaderlandsche Rietvlei equestrian trainer Linda Mohr took the stand to reveal that she was never asked to testify.
Jeremy Sias, who was employed as a general worker at the farm when Cremer was killed in August 2019 is currently on trial for her murder.
With the State’s case concluded, defence lawyer advocate Mohamed Sibda is trying to convince the court that his client is not guilty.
The much-anticipated testimony of Mohr on Monday shocked the court as even Judge Elizabeth Baartman seemed astounded by her evidence.
Mohr said she met Cremer more than six years ago when the show jumper had requested to see a stable for her horse.
“The longer she was on the farm, the more good friends we became. She was alone most of the time on the farm, so we would always invite her for dinners. She also had free access to our house and would come and talk to us at any time,” she said.
Sibda then questioned her on whether she had noticed anything out of the ordinary about Cremer around the time she had gone missing.
Mohr testified that months before Cremer was killed, her behaviour had changed.
Cremer had offered to purchase a R75 000 horse from Mohr and wanted to pay in cash, “I was very uneasy about taking that amount of cash,” which Cremer later sent via EFT.
She said there had been an incident which in her 30 years of being at the farm, “has never happened” to her. Three men dressed in “white robes” had come to the stables to watch Cremer while Mohr was giving her lessons.
“They kept walking up and down the part of the road, watching Meghan. I thought they were Malays but I can’t guarantee it. I asked ‘Meghan do you know these people’ and she gave me no reaction whatsoever. She looked at them and carried on riding,” Mohr said.
She said after Cremer’s body was discovered, she found out from her son James Mohr that Cremer had been using cocaine.
“Meghan lost a lot of weight from December to March/April. After she was found, my son showed me a WhatsApp which he still has. It was James and Meghan talking saying that drugs is a terrible thing and that a drug hangover is the worst thing you can have in the morning and that he must please not tell me that she is on cocaine,” Mohr said.
She mentioned another point that stood out for her during that period – Cremer failing to pay her bill with Mohr’s for the month of July – the only time she had missed a payment.
“Meghan was a very good payer of her bills and she would always pay between 25 and 27 of every month, except July (2019). She phoned me and said she’s short of cash and would pay me the following week. She was with us for four and a half years and never ever did she not pay,” Mohr said.
As she was being questioned by State advocate Emily Van Wyk, Judge Baartman told her the court was informed that she was a reluctant witness, Mohr said: “No one ever asked me to be a witness. You can ask anyone on the farm that I cannot believe nobody asked me to be a witness.”
She said when the man who was in a romantic relationship with Cremer, Thomas Mbalula, had reported her missing to the police, they refused to assist him “because why is a black man reporting a white woman missing” she said.
“It was appalling the way police treated Thomas and I.”
She also told the court that from her observation police were intent on pinning the crime on Sias and only wanted portions of the video footage of the farm on the day Cremer was killed.
She further testified that when she informed one of the detectives of Cremer’s alleged drug habits, they ignored her.
“When Meghan went missing, I never knew anything about drugs, if someone had asked me ‘oh was she on drugs’, I would have said no, until I saw the actual WhatsApp.”
The Cape Argus reached out to mother Gill Cremer regarding Mohr’s testimony. She said the claims would be disputed in court.