Cape Times - Expert witness in the case against rape and murder accused Mortimer Saunders said it could not be determined definitively if the rape of 3-year-old Courtney Pieters took place before or after her death.
The Western Cape High Court heard the testimony of pathologist Johan Dempers, who was called by the State. The State said it called on Dempers after an application on the hearsay rule.
Dempers was the supervisor to Aloysia Ogle, who conducted the autopsy on Pieters at Tygerberg Hospital. Ogle could not be called to the stand because she had moved to Dubai.
Dempers said he was contacted the day Pieters’ body was found and he accompanied Ogle to the scene.
Dempers said he was not present during the entire autopsy due to senior duties.
“I was not next to the body the entire time. I was not there every single second, but I am comfortable with the facts of the case,” Dempers said.
Saunders, in his plea statement said he had poisoned the child with ant poison and denied raping her, saying he “penetrated her corpse with three fingers”.
Ogle confirmed chief findings in her post-mortem report that Pieters suffered blunt force injuries to her face, torso and limbs.
Dempers also spoke on what was found in the child’s genital area during the autopsy.
“There was dark discolouration of vaginal tissue. Deep lacerations were found close to opening of vagina. This happens when stretched too far.
“It is important to note I am talking about the vaginal orifice, not the hymen. If you overextend this genital area (in a child), it will rupture.
“We can’t be that dogmatic to say rape happened ante-mortem, but we also can’t say that it happened definitely post-mortem. This is confounded by the state of decomposition,” the expert witness said.
Dempers said the pathologists had noted a contradiction with respect to the actual time of death. They had dealt with it as a nine-day post-mortem.
“When we tested for rigor mortis, there was mild stiffness of the muscles and there was no advanced stage of decomposition.
“This points to it being less consistent with the nine days. When this was noted, we impressed on the investigating officer to find evidence of how long the body was dead,” the witness said.
Dempers said the apparent cause of death was asphyxia, with signs of smothering, or poisoning. He said the manner of death was unnatural.
Defence counsel Morné Calitz requested that a typed-up version of Dempers’ evidence in chief be supplied to him so he could consult with his own expert, who is in KwaZulu-Natal.