Cape Town – As courts open this month for the 2019 judicial year, some of the most followed cases will be back in session.
The case against two men accused of raping and killing 10-year-old Chanelle McCrawl in Manenberg is expected to start in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.
Carlo de Kock and Stanton Mano have been charged for the crimes.
The murder trial for Kensington toddler, Jeremiah Ruiters, will be heard in March after being on pre-trial in the high court for three months.
Jeremiah’s mother Abigail Ruiters, 30, and her boyfriend Ameerudien Peters, 26, have been charged with the rape and murder of the 1-year-old.
Ruiters is charged with child abuse, under the Children’s Act, of Jeremiah and her two daughters, 8 years old and 3 years old.
Sentencing proceedings of convicted murderer and former property mogul Jason Rohde, is expected to start of February 18.
He was found guilty of murdering his wife Susan at Spier wine farm in Stellenbosch. She was found dead on July 24, 2016, with an electric cord around her neck.
It was the State’s case that Rohde killed Susan and used the cord to stage her death as a suicide.
In November, Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe found that Rohde had direct intent to kill his wife.
Returning to court is Rob Packham, a Constantia resident accused of murdering his wife Gill Packham. Her body was found in the boot of a burning BMW vehicle she owned near the Diep River railway station after she was reported missing on February 22 last year. Packham’s trial is due to start on March 11.
Also expected in court in March is the sentencing proceedings of Lloyd Simbarashe, convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Nikita Lewis, 24, while she was in hiding at a domestic violence and abuse care centre.