Cape Town - The lawyer acting for lawyer acting for Moyhdian Pangkaeker – the man accused of kidnapping, raping, mutilating and murdering Tazne van Wyk – said on Thursday that the court should be wary of the State’s description of his client as a child molester.
Advocate Saleem Halday said in his opening address: “When my learned colleague referred to a passage in his heads, basically highlighting certain traits that one would normally find in a child molester, of course his submissions (were) that these are present in the accused.
“I understand why he started in that way, but there is a danger which the court should be wary of in such an approach.”
He said the State couldn’t “piggy back” on such traits in a situation where evidence of each and every charge may be insufficient to prove the accused’s guilt. He said the evidence of a single child witness needed to be examined and analysed by the court to show it constituted proof beyond reasonable doubt.
“The defence will argue that the evidence of single witnesses and child witnesses was not reliable for various reasons, and that is all the court must look at: on every charge, was the witness reliable?” Halday said.
Halday’s submissions came after State advocate Lenro Badenhorst in his concluding arguments gave the State’s reasons why Pangkaeker should be found guilty of the kidnapping and killing of 8-year-old Tazne.
Badenhorst argued that Pangkaeker’s denial that Tazne was seen with him on more than one occasion by multiple witnesses affected his credibility negatively.
Badenhorst asked the court to accept the circumstantial evidence put forward by the State during the trial to the effect that Pangkaeker should be convicted for what happened to Tazne.
He also said that the accused’s version of what had transpired amounted to “fantasy”.
“If the accused was innocent and was a victim of crime, it would have been the most natural thing (for him) not only to report the first kidnapping, but also the second fatal kidnapping by the group of Africans.
“The version of the accused that he feared being falsely blamed has no ring of truth to it, and his sister testified that he did not sound scared on the cellphone.”
Badenhorst argued that Pangkaeker allegedly chopped off Tazne’s hand in a bid to destroy incriminating evidence.
Halday will continue with his arguments on Monday.