The trial of Jurgen Vandekeere for the rape and murder of Brentwood Park resident Chantelle Barnard (20) in 2011 is underway in a sitting of the Pretoria High Court in Benoni.
After being placed on hold for seven years, the trial commenced in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court on Monday (August 31).
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The judgement was supposed to take place on September 8, but Acting Judge, Portia Phahlane postponed the judgment to September 10.
The 42 year old has pleaded not guilty to the rape and murder of Barnard and to defeating the ends of justice. A slim Vandekeere was wearing a black hoodie and white mask in court on Monday.
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He handed himself over to the Benoni SAPS on January 15, this year, after being on the run from police since September 9, 2013, when he failed to appear in the Delmas High Court for the start of his trial.
Chantelle’s body was found in Vandekeere’s house in Brentwood Park on April 1, 2011, after she went missing earlier that day. She had been raped and stabbed in the throat and the accused had allegedly also washed her body.
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At the time of her death, Barnard was renting a property that belonged to Vandekeere and his father. Chantelle’s mother, Suzette Barnard, told the court on Monday that she found her daughter’s body in Vandekeere’s house.
“Chantelle was lying naked on the floor and I could only see the right side of her face. There was not a drop of blood on her body and her hair was wet,” an emotional Barnard testified. “A container of make-up and a bottle of shaving foam were next to her body.”
Chantelle had gone there to give her keys back to the landlord, as she had relocated to another property.
The last time anyone heard from her was at around noon that day. Her family and friends started searching for her when they discovered her cellphone was off as it was very unusual for her not to answer her phone or for her to have it switched off.
Vandekeere was denied bail in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court on December 7, 2011. He was then released on bail of R20 000 on January 4, 2012, in the Gauteng High Court and failed to appear in the Delmas High Court the following year, going on the run from police.
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