Murder and rape accused Mortimer Saunders possibly attempted to run away from police when he was arrested, says Elsies River police officer Bradley Spogter.
He had arrested Saunders after receiving an anonymous tip-off.
Spogter was the State’s fifth witness in its case against Saunders, who admitted he poisoned the 3-year-old girl with ant poison, choked her and then disposed of her body in Bofors Circle, Epping Industria.
Spogter, who does blue light patrols in the Elsies River policing precinct, told the Western Cape High Court that on May 14 he received an anonymous tip-off at about 11pm pointing him to an address in Jonah Close, Salberau, close to JS Klopper Primary School.
“I received a call from a woman asking if we were still searching for the accused, and I said yes we were.
"She then gave me directions to an address at Jonah Close, where Saunders was found watching TV,” he said.
Spogter said the accused was found in a backyard dwelling at the address, which he understood to be of a friend of Saunders.
“When I entered the house, I saw Saunders and informed him he was wanted on a murder case.
"He got up and turned his back to me. I was not sure of his intentions but this indicated to me that he was trying to get away from me.
“I grabbed him from behind by the back of his jeans. I then read him (his) rights and arrested him. My colleague and myself then took him to Elsies River police station,” he said.
Defence lawyer Mornay Calitz said it was his instruction that Saunders had not tried to run away and that his client gave his co-operation to police.
Spogter responded: “In my experience, criminals try to run away and I was unsure of Saunders’s intentions when he turned his back on me.
"That is when I grabbed him at his jeans and arrested him.”
Previously, Courtney’s mother, Juanita Pieters, said that when they called Saunders to the police station, after her child’s body was found, he did not show up despite telling her that he was on his way to the police station.
A hunt then ensued to locate Saunders, who did not return to the Pluto Street home where he had lived for about three years.
State prosecutor Esmeralda Cecil asked Spogter how he knew Saunders was the accused when the arrest was carried out.
“Pictures were pasted at the police station. The picture that was supplied came from a (screengrab) supplied from CCTV footage where Saunders was seen dumping the body. He was wearing the same clothes as he wore in the footage,” he said.
Judge Pearl Mantame also granted an application by Calitz to call back an expert witness, forensic analyst Luthando Tiya.
Courtney went missing from the Pluto Street home on May 4, after which residents searched for her for nine days.
Her body was found dumped on top of a rubbish heap.