Durban – Former Jockey Graham Gregorowski has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend at their Shongweni Horseshoe Cottage.
Sentencing was under way in the Durban High Court on Monday.
The body of Janet Scott, 54, was found by the neighbours in the cottage on October, 15, 2016, with Gregorowski lying next to her.
The court heard during the trial, which began in March, that Gregorowski, 35, and Scott, 54, had been living together in Horseshoe Cottage, which they shared with another friend.
Handing down judgment, Judge Shyam Gyanda found Gregorowski's version that he did not kill Scott to be false and rejected it beyond reasonable doubt.
He agreed with the State that Gregorowski had murdered Scott that night.
Messages from Gregorowski accusing her of sleeping with someone else were read in court during the trial.
Judge Gyanda found the assault was one-sided. The judge found that Gregorowski assaulted Scott and only stopped when she was dead.
Gregorowski had testified he pushed her and saw her collapse and dragged her to the bed to try and do CPR on her four times.
He had testified he tried to commit suicide when he realised she was dead.
Judge Gyanda rejected Gregorowski’s version that Scott's injuries, similar to those of a victim of a high affect car accident — were caused because she slipped in the shower.
Judge Gyanda also rejected Gregorowski’s version that they had argued and he might have pushed her.
State witness Reinhard Spamghel, who shared the Gregorowski house, had testified there was tension that day when Scott, who had visited her father, came home to find that a girl named Melissa had been in the house for a week.
He had testified that he had suggested they go out for drinks in an effort to “break the ice”.
The court found Gregorowski and Scott could have had an argument outside the night club and that Gregorowski could have followed his girlfriend to the cottage where another argument could have taken place that led to her death.
Gregorowski stayed in the cottage with the dead body of his girlfriend on the bed until the next morning when the neighbour found him.
There were bloody towels on the floor and blood splatter everywhere.
Senior state advocate Krishen Shah argued that Gregorowski could not account for Scott’s extensive injuries.
"He could not account for the blood spatter, for the state of the room, the upturned furniture and contents of her handbag splayed on the floor," said Shah.
Shah described the murder as most gruesome and vicious.
Daily News