GQEBERHA – Vicki Terblanche’s best friend took the stand today at the Gqeberha High Court, revealing that Vicki was unhappy in her marriage before her brutal murder in 2021.
Vicki Terblanche was murdered on 18 October 2021. Her body was found buried in a shallow grave in Greenbushes, Gqeberha, after she was given an overdose of drugs and suffocated with a pillow.
Her estranged husband, Arnold Terblanche, is now facing life imprisonment after the state accused him of allegedly orchestrating the murder of the Gqeberha mother with the help of her boyfriend, Reinhardt Leach.
Leach is currently serving an effective 25-year prison sentence for his role in Vicki’s murder. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, defeating the ends of justice, and possession of drugs.
In today’s court proceedings, Vicki’s best friend, Jesse van Rensburg, revealed that she and Vicki had been best friends since 2018. They became friends after their children met at Woodridge school and through a group called “Women of Woodridge”, a community of mothers whose children attend the school.
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Van Rensburg further stated that she worked with Vicki before her death as her productivity coach at KW Explore, a real estate agency. She told the court that she trained Vicki to be a real estate agent and sell homes.
Prosecutor Marius Stander asked van Rensburg if Vicki was happy in her marriage, to which she responded: “She was not happy.”
During the divorce proceedings that began in December 2020, Vicki had been seeking R35 000 per month in maintenance and a significant financial settlement.
Terblanche’s legal representative, Peter Dauberman, immediately interjected, arguing that van Rensburg’s statement was hearsay. He further stated to the court that he would be objecting to that evidence as it was riddled with hearsay regarding the marriage.
Van Rensburg revealed before the court that Terblanche’s girlfriend at the time, Krystall Wiggill, also applied to be a real estate agent at KW Explore but abandoned her appointment, stating her child had an illness.
As Stander was about to present screenshots and voice notes between van Rensburg, Vicki, Charissa Roets (Terblanche’s ex-girlfriend’s twin sister), and Wiggill, Dauberman interjected again, arguing that this was a classic example of hearsay.
He stated that if the state brought forward the voice notes, the authenticity of the recordings would have to be proved.
Dauberman told Judge Nyameko Gqamana that he had sent Stander an email in February specifically asking for complete exhibits and a sequence of witnesses to avoid disrupting the trial, which he said was ignored by Stander. He argued: “This is not a trial by ambush.”
Judge Gqamana interjected, noting that he had understood counsel to be engaging with one another, but it now seemed that this was no longer the case.
Stander responded that they had held two pre-trial conferences specifically to address these issues, but the defence did not want to continue with them.
Judge Gqamana then requested to see everyone in his chambers.
Gqamana informed van Rensburg that they would not be able to proceed with her testimony on Friday.
The matter was then remanded until Monday, 23 March, to hear testimony from Chantell Stevens, a police officer.
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