Cape Town - The murder case of Paarl psychologist assistant Nicola Pienaar began with her alleged killer being informed investigators were working to secure additional charges to the three already lodged against him.
The accused, Jacobus Oosthuizen, who was Pienaar’s boyfriend, appeared briefly in Paarl Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. On Sunday night he led police to the shallow grave where the 28-year-old woman was found buried under rubble in his family’s backyard.
Preliminary investigations indicate Pienaar, who was six-months pregnant at the time of her murder, had been strangled and also suffered a gruesome incision to her stomach.
Nicola Pienaar, 28
Pienaar was reported missing on January 8 by her mother, Paarl psychologist Marlaine Pienaar-Vice, who became worried after she had not heard from her daughter, who worked as her assistant, in three days.
It is during that time Oosthuizen, 32, allegedly fled to Port Elizabeth where he is believed to have had ambitions of linking up with an ex-girlfriend. This was confirmed by forensic specialist and owner of Eagle Eye Solution Technologies, Paul Scheepers, who traced Oosthuizen to PE.
“His former girlfriend wants nothing to do with him and refuses to even see him. He continuously sent her postcards and tried to contact her. He told a friend he was still in love with her and we think he was headed to PE to (try to) get his job back and to try to reconcile with his ex.
“Nicola was never with him, and died alone with her child still inside of her,” Scheepers said.
Oosthuizen was, however, arrested outside a fast-food outlet in PE in the early hours of January 22 after an employee of the store reported the “suspicious-looking” vehicle he had been sleeping in.
The waiter reportedly called the police after seeing that the car, which belongs to Pienaar-Vice, was packed with clothes and some household items.
Pienaar had last been seen driving her mother’s car in Paarl on January 5.
Her mother, Pienaar-Vice, attended Thursday’s court proceedings flanked by supportive family and friends.
The State, led by prosecutor Nathan Johnson, said the investigating team was awaiting port-mortem and DNA reports.
It was unclear whether the mother-to-be had died due to strangulation or because of the severe cut to her lower abdomen.
If it she was strangled, Johnson said, the forensic reports would indicate whether the unborn child’s heart had stopped beating during the assault and should this be the case, Oosthuizen could be charged with attempted murder as well.
Before escorting police to the backyard grave at his family home in Station Road on Sunday, Oosthuizen had initially said he dropped Pienaar off in Oudtshoorn after an argument.
He is represented by a legal aid attorney and has not yet been asked to plead.
He currently faces three charges including murder, motor vehicle theft and fraud.