Reinhardt Leach, co-accused in the murder of Vicki Terblanche, has filed a notice of application for bail stating that he will plead not guilty to the murder.
Leach and his co-accused, Arnold Terblanche, are facing several charges relating to the murder of Vicki, who was Arnold Terblanche’s estranged wife and Leach’s girlfriend at the time of her death. Her body was found in a shallow grave in Greenbushes in October 2021.
Arnold Terblanche was released on R1 million bail in February last year, while former co-accused Dylan Cullis was sentenced to 18 years in prison after confessing his involvement in the murder by means of a plea statement in March last year.
After being in custody for more than two years, Leach has this week applied for bail, stating in his bail application that should he be granted bail, he will live with his parents in Gqeberha, where he lived prior to his romantic relationship with Vicki.
In an affidavit by Leach, dated February 2023 and handed into court as part of the bail application, the former educator made shocking revelations about his version of what happened on the night of Vicki’s murder.
“The day it went down, it was morning, midday, and we had cocaine, weed, a lot of Percocet, Mandrax, and tik. After partying all night, we sat and thought nothing was happening and the sun was already out. We were impatient and mixed Percocet with Berocca. I put in 10 pills of Percocet, thinking that it would knock her out. After drinking half, she looked at me saying, ‘What is this?’ I said that it’s Berocca. She said that I’m lying, so to prove to her it was indeed Berocca, I drank the other half of the glass. We had sex and shortly thereafter we both fell asleep on the bed in the main bedroom. She slept on the side of the ensuite bathroom. When I woke up, she wasn’t next to me. Mario (de Ridder) woke me up saying, ‘Come quickly’. I was still dizzy as the pills had not worn off yet and we had been awake for days by that stage.”
He said as he was going down the passage towards her son’s bed, he could hear her scream. “When I reached the room I saw Dillan sitting over her with a pillow over her face. He was busy suffocating her. I said, ‘WTF are you doing?’ So Dillan said, ‘Just go outside the room,’ and myself and Mario left the room. It was all like a bad dream,” said Leach in the affidavit.
Earlier in the trial Mario de Ridder was indicated as a Section 204 state witness in the trial.
Leach continued in this affidavit stating that he did not know what was going on and why. “I did not feel so great and sat in the braai area. He came out saying that she is dead, I couldn’t understand what was happening. I did not ask him to do it as someone would clearly see that she was strangled/suffocated to death. It was never part of the plan. Till this day I still don’t know the real reason he did it. I am almost 90% sure that Dillan himself or both of them raped her while she was sleeping and when she woke up she started screaming and to shut her up he suffocated her. His excuse was all this was taking too long that’s why he did it,” Leach stated.
Opposing Leach’s bail is Colonel Rhynhardt Swanepoel of the South African Police Service, naming one of the reasons being his belief that Leach saw the late Terblanche as a “cash cow” to fund his lifestyle and illicit abalone dealings.
“The applicant was a kingpin in the abalone industry, running an operation from a smallholding on the outskirts of Gqeberha.” Swanepoel added that Leach has demonstrated his ability to destroy evidence and to conceal the truth.
“Subsequent to the murder, the deceased’s clothing and personal belongings were removed from her residence to create the impression that she had vanished without a trace. The number plate of the BMW was originally removed to avoid detection. The goods of the deceased were sold all over Gqeberha. The applicant was prepared to mislead the SA Police in their investigation in finding the deceased. He buried the body of the deceased and then went and reported her as a missing person,” Swanepoel stated.
Swanepoel said he is of the view that the State has a watertight case against Leach.
