Elderly crime victim Annatjie van Rooyen suffocated in a freezer she was forced into during a farm attack, Beeld reported on Friday.
Pathologist Dr Daniel Humphris (SUBS: CORRECT) was reportedly testifying in the Circuit Court in Parys, in the Free State, on Thursday.
According to the newspaper, Ngope Abram Oupa Mokoena, 47, his wife Mmaditaba Francina Mokubung, 46, and Ezekiele Mtshembelele Mguni, 30, have pleaded not guilty to a number of charges related to the attack.
Van Rooyen, 76, and her husband Ernest van Rooyen, 77, were attacked in their farm tuck shop in Parys in January, Beeld reported. Their bodies were discovered a few days later.
Her hands were tied behind her back with shoelaces and her feet were secured with wire.
Humphris said he had to wait for the body to defrost before he could conduct the autopsy.
Ernest van Rooyen’s body was found on the floor of the shop. He and his wife had been stabbed.
The newspaper reported that the court was read a statement Mokoena made the day of his arrest, in which he said he had agreed with “Rasta” (Mguni) to rob the couple because they owed him money for painting work.
“Rasta hit the old white man and he fought back…. The old woman was still alive when he put her in the freezer,” he was quoted as telling the court. – sapa