WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-08-31 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Dianne Hawker and Leila Samodien
A stunned Ravensmead community has called on James Barnes to “explain himself” to the family of Celine Cowley, the four-year-old girl he was originally accused of murdering.
Barnes walked free on Wednesday after the State’s case against him collapsed and the Cape High Court dropped all charges.
In court, Barnes’s broad smile was in stark contrast to the torrent of tears from Celine’s mother, Brigette.
| ‘This seems to be a contradiction that was placed before the court’ |
A collective gasp from the public gallery greeted Acting Judge Robbie McDougall’s judgment: “The accused is found not guilty and is discharged.”
There was a short silence followed by a shout from the gallery: “We are not pleased at all.”
On Wednesday Barnes, 37, answered questions about his future plans with a few quick words. He said he would travel to Aberdeen to live with his father, and said he was relieved about the outcome.
The outcry from the gallery en capsulated the mood of a community torn apart by Celine’s murder.
Brigette and Selina Cowley, the little girl’s grandmother, both wept uncontrollably outside the court.
| ‘That would have been the end of the day if there was DNA’ |
They seemed shocked at the outcome, despite admissions in court by prosecutor Shireen Riley that there was very little to link Barnes to the murder.
The State’s case throughout had been hamstrung by a lack of evidence and many questions about her disappearance on July 30, 2006, now remain unanswered.
The case against Barnes was further weakened by allegations of police brutality, which Barnes claimed had influenced him into initially confessing to the crime.
He later rescinded and changed his plea.
The police were also criticised by the court for coercing Barnes into pointing things out at the crime scene.
Judge McDougall said he had observed the police officers throughout the trial and was convinced they had done “exemplary” police work.
“However, they are not permitted to break the law if they become exasperated and over zealous to secure a conviction,” he said.
A neighbour of the Cowleys, Hilton Adams, had testified that he and Barnes had walked Celine home at about 8pm.
Adams said he had left the child in Barnes’s care. Riley said Barnes had corroborated Adams’s testimony in a statement made to police.
“In the statement he admits he met up with Hilton and was given the child. He said he didn’t know what happened.
“This seems to be a contradiction that was placed before the court,” she said.
But Judge McDougall said he was not impressed with Adams’s evidence. Adams had, in fact, told the court he had been “blind drunk” on July 30.
The court had also heard that there was no DNA evidence to link Barnes to the murder. Although samples had been taken from the scene and during the post mortem, forensic tests had produced no conclusive results.
“Miss Riley, you’ve done your very best about the DNA … If you watch TV you’ll see that people get convicted all the time (as a result of DNA evidence).
“That would have been the end of the day if there was DNA,” Judge McDougall said during one of Riley’s earlier submissions.
In Ravensmead on Wednesday night, residents said that despite the court’s findings, they still had unanswered questions for Barnes.
“In my first question to him (Barnes), I would ask him if he knows anything about what happened to Celine,” said another Cowley neighbour, Miyra Rensberg. “It is our children playing out there and we need to know they are safe.”
Another resident called for Barnes to face up to the community and tell what he knew of the murder.
“He must come to this court here in our community and explain himself he must tell us the truth,” she said.
The community also lashed out at police, saying they were sloppy in gathering evidence.
Now, the community and family feel as if they are back to square one in solving Celine’s murder.
Jacky Papier, a resident of 11th Avenue and a mother of three, said: “I can’t say whether he is guilty or not, but the community is so shocked. The community won’t let it just rest there.”
Rensberg echoed the same sentiments.
“If he’s not guilty, there’s someone out there who is.
“Where is (that person)? What is being done about it?” she said.
Papier added that, unfortunately, the killing had not affected the way parents monitored their children’s outdoor activities.
When the Cape Argus visited the Cowley home on Wednesday, groups of children were playing in the streets, with minimal adult supervision.
Papier said some parents let their kids play outside as late as 10pm, making it more dangerous.