A Stellenbosch police sergeant has recalled a dramatic chase through a local farm that resulted in the arrest of one of the men accused of the rape and murder of student Hannah Cornelius.
Sergeant Clifton Adams was on duty on May 27 last year when he became aware of a hijacked blue Citi Golf being pursued in the student town early that afternoon, he testified in the Western Cape High Court, News24 reported.
He and his partner spotted the car and gave chase, joining a convoy which had already been chasing the car as it headed toward the Devon Valley Road, eventually coming to a stop at Dwars-in-die-Weg Farm.
CCTV footage showed officers, including Adams, jumping out of their vehicles and chasing after two suspects who deserted the stolen car inside the venue and fled in different directions.
Adams estimated that the pursuit was over a distance less than a kilometre, snaking through the farm's function venue, vineyards and towards the farmworkers' homes. A fellow officer had shouted for the suspect to lie down, and he complied.
He pointed out Geraldo Parsons as the man he had handcuffed that day before taking him to the holding cells of the Stellenbosch police station.
Parsons, Vernon Witbooi, Eben van Niekerk and Nashville Julius face a string of charges including murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and rape.
The men allegedly accosted Cornelius and her friend Cheslin Marsh in her VW Citi Golf at the corner of Jan Celliers and Bird streets in the early hours of May 27, 2017.