Cape Town - The two men accused of raping and murdering a 10-year-old Manenberg girl were allegedly watching porn and smoking drugs when she walked into the house they were in.
This was revealed as the girl’s uncle Carlo de Kock and neighbour Stanton Mano appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on Thursday for their formal bail hearing.
The bludgeoned body of Chanelle McCrawl was discovered on the banks of the Vygieskraal River a day after she had gone missing on 19 October last year.
Both men said they would be pleading not guilty to rape and murder charges.
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In his explanation, De Kock indicated he wanted bail because he missed his three children. He also refused to answer any questions about the day of the incident and said he would leave that for the trial.
Mano, however, in an affidavit, said he would be pleading not guilty and claimed he had nothing to do with the rape and murder.
He proposed a bail amount of R500 which he said his family would pay.
Senior State prosecutor, Shahida Poole, said the State would oppose bail due to the seriousness of the case.
Poole read out a statement by investigating officer, Sergeant Ayanada Dyusha, in which he said every morning before leaving school, Chanelle went to fetch her two cousins at De Kock’s home to take them to a feeding scheme where they got porridge in the morning.
On the day she went missing, her two cousins had already left the house with their mother and had gone to the day hospital.
The report says Chanelle entered De Kock’s home and never arrived at school that day.
Carlo de Kock Picture: Supplied
The next day her body was found wrapped in a curtain and a plastic bag.
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According to the post-mortem, she had multiple injuries to her head, neck and genitalia.
The report continued: “During the morning of 19 October, some time after the deceased was last seen, accused 1 [De Kock] was watching a pornographic movie in his house. Accused 2 [Mano] as well as another witness informed police that he had been watching pornographic movies and smoking drugs. Another witness also saw him at Carlo de Kock’s place.”
The report revealed that the curtain found wrapped around Chanelle’s body was identified by De Kock’s wife as their property, and a pair of boots found in the couple’s Wendy house had Chanelle’s blood on it.
Semen was also found on Chanelle’s underwear and tests will be done to establish to whom it belongs.
It was also revealed that De Kock had previously been charged with the sexual assault of a girl and these charges have been reopened by police.
In his hearing, De Kock claimed the charges were withdrawn by the child’s mother because the child was “telling stories”.
Magistrate Goolam Bawa suspended the hearing shortly before 4pm and postponed the matter to 16 January. The two men remain in custody.