The verdict in the Chanel du Toit murder case will finally be heard this August after 13 years of relentless testimony, and a long-held anticipation of the court’s finding on whether her accused widower, Johan, is the killer or not, will finally be satisfied.
On Thursday 6 April the Regional Magistrate Joe Magele listened to the defence’s closing arguments in the Cape Town Regional Court and adjourned the case until August for the verdict.
The state alleges Du Toit strangled Chanel in their cottage on the Dieu Donné wine farm in Franschhoek. He denied guilt, saying he was not at home at the time of her death, having left early that morning on a hunting trip to Springbok.
Du Toit argued he had left their cottage around 02:00 and contacted his mother later that morning after 07:00. She also lived on the farm, and Du Toit asked her to check on Chanel because the calls he had made to her phone were unanswered. His mother found her body on the floor in their bedroom.
The state already delivered its closing argument earlier this year, while Du Toit’s legal representative, William Booth, delivered his on 6 April. He argued that the state’s case was based solely on circumstantial evidence, with no direct evidence linking Du Toit to the killing.
Booth specifically focused on the testimony of the pathologist, Dr Deidre Abrahams, and Abraham Riffel, the policeman who took photos of the scene. The defence had called Dr David Klatzow as their forensic expert to challenge Abrahams’ finding about her time of death.
Klatzow believes Abrahams’ findings are not reliable because, among other things, her thermostat was not calibrated, she did not take the surrounding temperatures into account and did not arrive at the cottage until 13:00 to begin the forensic process.
He argued for the defence that Chanel was killed after 02:00 when Du Toit had already left home.
The state argued that Chanel was killed before 02:00, when the defendant was still at home before leaving on his outbound trip.
. Source: This is an excerpt from Netwerk24’s official court coverage.
