Cape Town - A Mitchells Plain woman accused of killing her teenage girlfriend and trying to cut her head off has been released on bail of R5 000.
Corrine Jackson, 20, was released by the Western Cape High Court following a successful second bid by her lawyer, William Booth.
Her first bail application was denied at the Mitchells Plain Magistrates’ Court in December 2017, after the magistrate ruled that Jackson had no regard for the law and witnesses were afraid of her.
The family of her alleged victim, 18-year-old Nadine Esterhuizen, on Thursday said they were shocked to learn Jackson is free as they had not been consulted or informed.
They have also broken their silence on Nadine’s horrific death, describing in graphic detail the crime scene at a house in Colorado Park, where the matric pupil was found murdered on 27 September 2017.
Her mother, Vanessa Esterhuizen, 48, says the scene was straight out of a horror movie.
She said clumps of her beautiful daughter’s long hair had been ripped out of her head and laid out in the heart shape with the word “sorry”’ written in blood on the floor.
The mom says Nadine’s stab wounds looked like her “flesh was ripped out” while her body was drained of blood.
“The pathologist battled for hours to get a drop of blood from her corpse to use for DNA testing,” says an emotional Vanessa.
Jackson’s lawyer, Advocate William Booth, confirmed to the Daily Voice: “Yes, she was granted bail, it was fixed at R5 000 at the Cape High Court (on Wednesday).
Interfere
“There are bail conditions, that she may not interfere with witnesses and she must report to the police station daily, I will not be disclosing where. She may also not leave the Western Cape,” he says.
Booth also said the murder charge had been changed to a schedule 5, from a schedule 6, because “it was not premeditated murder”.
An emotional Vanessa says the justice system has failed them.
“To think how she murdered my child, so brutally, and to be released out on bail,” she says.
“My child had a beautiful voice and sang since the age of five.”
The mother says she will never forget the sight that greeted her at the crime scene.
“The blood was running out of the back door and she cut up Nadine’s identity document into pieces.
“To me, she tortured my child while she was still alive, she pulled out her hair and then took it to make a heart shape on the floor with her blood, and wrote the word sorry.”
Grandma Sylvia says her granddaughter was killed in a “demonic frenzy”.
“It was demonic, there was so much blood in the toilet... she stabbed her 21 times and ripped her skin while she did it. It was like a horror movie,” she says.
Nadine previously obtained a protection order against Jackson and opened a case of assault following an incident at the Strandfontein Pavilion in July 2017.
Jackson is back in court on 4 July to get a trial date.