Cape Town – Tyre tread patterns where Gill Packham’s body was found could possibly have been those of the white Audi of her husband, Rob Packham, who is on trial for her murder.
This emerged at the Western Cape High Court yesterday when Danie van der Westhuizen, a tyre track, finger and shoe print analyst, took the witness stand.
Van der Westhuizen said tyre treads found at the crime scene were compared to those on Packham’s Audi and found “possibly to be the same” as the patterns corresponded but it had “no unique markings”.
However, when police had taken pictures of the same vehicle’s tyre treads at a later date, Van der Westhuizen said the “patterns were totally different”.
He was one of the six witnesses who testified yesterday, including Packham’s sister, Judith Markwell, who testified as a state witness.
Markwell, who said she was aware of the couple’s marital problems, said that when her brother called to inform her of Gill’s disappearance, he had sounded “confused” and “cried at one stage”.
Markwell said that during the day she was in contact with her brother and advised him to report Gill missing and he “said he would”.
State witness Christiaan Labuschagne, a relief commander at Wynberg police station the day Gill went missing, said Packham was “relaxed” when he wanted to report Gill missing on February 22 last year.
According to Labuschagne, Packham told him the last time he saw Gill was at 7am.
“There is a misconception that people should wait 24 hours to report a person missing,” Labuschagne said. “It is incorrect.”
Packham’s attorney, Craig Webster, said it was his instruction from Packham that he was to wait 24 hours to report a missing person.
The trial continues.