Cape Town - Franziska Blöchliger was suffocated to death as her killer pressed her face against the ground and strangled her.
Post-mortem reports indicate that the 16-year-old girl had sand in her throat at the time of her death, with ligature marks around her neck and features, indicating she had been throttled.
The Wynberg Magistrate’s Court was packed as accused Jerome Moses and Daniel Easter applied for bail on Thursday.
The other two accused, Jonathan Jonas and Howard Oliver, have abandoned bail. Oliver was positively linked to the murder, rape and robbery of Blöchliger while she was jogging in Tokai forest on March 7.
The four men face a Schedule Six Offence for their involvement after Franziska’s body was found a few hours later, 200m from where she was to meet her mother, Shireen Blöchliger after her run.
Also read: Franziska murder accused: ‘I am sorry’
An affidavit penned by investigating officer Jan Coetzee, from the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences police task team, indicated that post-mortem reports showed Franziska had been anally and vaginally raped while her wrists were bound.
It also emerged that semen was found at the scene because the accused had not worn condoms while raping her.
She had experienced blunt force trauma and there was congestion of her internal organs.
State attorney Renee Prinsloo-Uys argued that the extent of Franziska’s injuries suggested that more than one person had murdered, raped and robbed her.
Moses had previous convictions of housebreaking, theft and being in possession of stolen property. He said he was at a shop when he was approached by Oliver, who said he wanted to sell an iPhone, allegedly stolen from Franziska.
Moses said he was drugged up on tik when Oliver propositioned him to sell the stolen phone, which later led police to Easter, who eventually bought it. Moses said he was only interested in getting more tik and did not care whether the phone was stolen or not.
He denied being in the vicinity of Tokai Forest. He told the court he wanted bail so that he could enrol in a rehabilitation programme. The State opposed bail, stating Moses did not have a fixed address.
His father is a senior employee of the Department of Correction Services and lives on the prisons premises.
Prinsloo-Uys said Moses supplied the address of his aunt as his residential address. She also accused Moses of spending nights in the Westlake area where he “moonlights as a pimp for a prostitute”.
The State opposed bail for Easter because the foreign national was a flight risk and the charges were serious.
The case was postponed to May 6 for judgment of the bail applications.
Cape Argus