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: 2008-04-18 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
A case of brutal rape and murder might finally draw to its conclusion as a state witness lays his cards on the table for his evidence to be tested in court.
But for the family of slain 19-year-old student and waitress Victoria McClachlan, the five years since the horrific incident have been difficult to bear.
As Rashaad Square stood in Court 2 at the Cape High Court yesterday, describing in chilling detail how he and his three co-accused had hijacked, gang-raped and murdered McClachlan on April 8, 2003, her aunt Adrienne Murray held her head in her hands.
“It is extremely hard for me to hear the whole story,” she said during the recess.
| ‘It has been going on for five years’ |
“And it has been going on for five years.
“It is like we are reliving it every time it comes to court.
“I feel like Vicky is raped over and over again by the way things have proceeded.”
Murray said she had attended the court on behalf of her sister Daphne McClachlan, Victoria’s mother, who was too traumatised to attend.
As Square recounted his version of the young woman’s rape and murder, the three co-accused Johannes Petersen, Jonathan Fortune and Mogammat Gaffoor sat sullen-faced in the dock, expressing emotion only when family and friends addressed them from the public gallery during recess.
| ‘I feel like Vicky is raped over and over again by the way things have proceeded’ |
It is alleged that Victoria had been apprehended by the men just after dropping a co-worker at home after her night shift as a waitress at the Tavern ‘n Ale in Diep River.
Square got 22 years in jail three-and-a-half years later, in November 2006, after entering into a plea bargain with the State.
But, before his evidence against his three co-accused could be tested in court, various delays had resulted in time running out and the case was not concluded.
When a postponement was set, further delays ensued – including changes of counsel and Gaffoor disappearing after being granted bail.
McClachlan’s family feared that Square would be murdered in jail before the trial came to court again because of his co-accused’s alleged links to the numbers gangs.
But this week he took to the witness stand to testify in detail about the rape and murder, and the role that he and the three co-accused had played.
On Monday he was cross-examined by advocate Pauline Andrews, representing Petersen, and yesterday by advocate Nehemiah Bellam, representing Fortune, but he did not waver.
He said the attack began when the four men agreed to hijack a vehicle because they wanted money to “score some rocks” (crack cocaine).
Square testified that they had hidden behind a wall in Retreat and that when they saw Victoria’s car stop to drop off a passenger at home, Gaffoor ran to her window with a gun.
“She lifted her hands in the air,” said Square, and moments later, after they had all climbed into the car, she crouched down on the floor and begged them not to hurt her.
When they demanded money or a cellphone, she produced R100, presumed to be the money from her waitressing shift.
The car was then reversed into a farm entrance in Philippi where Victoria was dragged out of the car by her hair.
Square testified that Gaffoor had held a gun to her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him, before moving her a few metres away and raping her while Fortune held her down.
“I could see her struggling,” said Square, adding that her clothes had been lifted up.
When Ballam asked if the victim’s eyes were open or closed at that time, Square said he wasn’t sure, adding that that did not mean he wasn’t “100% sure” that he saw the three accused raping the victim.
Square was the last to rape her, and it was after this that Gaffoor said she needed to be killed because she had seen their faces.
Ballam asked Square if he was afraid of Gaffoor, to which he replied: “I am not scared of him, but I am careful around him.
“He has a reputation. He has a history, and we are all careful around him.”
He said Gaffoor had ordered Petersen to shoot Victoria but the gun did not work. Gaffoor then fixed the gun and Fortune took the weapon and killed her.
Leaving her body behind, they drove to Westlake where they “scored rocks from a 24-hour merchant”, and then tried to rid the car of all fingerprints.
They doused it in petrol and finally abandoned it in Seemeeu circle in Seawinds in the greater Lavender Hill area where it was found two days later.
Victoria’s badly decomposed body was only found in Philippi 10 days after she had disappeared.
When Ballam produced a copy of the “missing person” poster that Victoria’s family had posted around Cape Town and asked Square whether he had known that the girl in the poster was the one they had raped and killed, Square replied that he knew immediately it was her.
The case was adjourned before Ballam’s cross-examination was complete when Square said he had a headache.
Proceedings continue today.