‘Jasmin-Lee suffered severe pain’
The severity of the injuries suffered by 4-year-old Jasmin-Lee Pretorius showed that she had struggled with her killer, was probably raped more than once and must have suffered severe pain, a district surgeon has told the High Court in Pretoria.
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Brits district surgeon Dr Forunato Beccia testified in the trial of Brakpan builder Sarel du Toit, 25, who admitted that he had in December 2013 raped and killed his brother’s daughter while she was visiting her father for the weekend.
Dr Beccia testified that the child had bleeding and bruises next to her one eye probably caused by a finger or knuckle, a bruise on her chin, a bruise to the inside of her lip probably caused by pressure on her mouth and blood on her nose caused by pressure or an external injury. So reported Ilse de Lange, The Citizen.
She had extensive scratch and bruise marks on both sides of her neck, caused by a hand.
He said Jasmin had probably struggled and there was more than one action which caused her death.
The injuries to her private parts were so severe and the tear so deep that one usually saw that type of injuries in a difficult birth where a mother had given birth to a very large baby. It correlated with an aggressive or multiple penetrations, he said.
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