Man accused of murdering elderly Secunda woman will stand trial in the Delmas High Court

SECUNDA – The man accused of robbing, raping and murdering Ms Corrienne Tesner in Hodgson Street in February, will go on trial in the Delmas High Court from 5 to 16 October next year.

The 32-year-old and his brother appeared in court on Monday, 7 October.

The six charges he is facing, are murder, rape, housebreaking with the intent to steal, theft, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The man’s older brother was also arrested as an accomplice to car theft, because he accompanied the accused to Limpopo to sell Ms Tesner’s stolen car. He allegedly drove the vehicle.

However, the charges against the brother were dropped on Monday.

The 62-year-old Ms Tesner was murdered in her granny flat behind her children’s house in Hodgson Street on Saturday, 23 February.

This former receptionist at Highveld Park High School was still in her pajamas when she was stabbed to death.

Her daughter, Ms Cathrynne Pelser, discovered the body hours later, covered under some blankets.

Ms Pelser’s brother, Darryn, left for work at 1am that Saturday morning, but did not notice anything peculiar.

His mother’s car was usually parked in the garage and he did not notice anything amiss.

Mr Pelser returned home just before 11am that morning, but soon left again.

His wife Caitlin, a local hairdresser, left for work at about 8am.

She noticed the sliding door of the flat was slightly open and that the Ms Tesner’s Chevrolet was gone, but also thought nothing of it, because her mother-in-law often opened up the flat for fresh air.

Ms Cathrynne Pelser, who was at home most of the day, popped her head around the door of her mother’s flat sometime during the morning, but also did not see Ms Tesner.

“The place looked messy, but I recalled my mother telling me her cleaning lady was unable to come to work in the week and they arranged that she would come on a Saturday.

“I did not suspect a thing,” said Ms Pelser at the time.

The Pelsers prepared for a braai in the afternoon and tried to contact their mother on both her cell phones, but the one was off and the other remained unanswered.

It was already around 5pm when Ms Pelser decided to check if the domestic worker had left, but found the flat still in a mess with the bedding on the floor.

She found her mother’s body under the bedding.

The suspect was caught months later when he broke into Mr Walter van Niekerk’s Secunda home on 12 April.

Mr Van Niekerk wrestled with the suspect and neighbours eventually helped to nab the man.

While the police were tracing the activities on Ms Tesner’s stolen cell phones as part of their investigation, the man whom they are now charging with murder, was apparently still active as a burglar in Secunda.

https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/137272/secunda-man-catches-burglar-later-confessed-killing-secunda-woman-earlier-year/

He was linked with the murder only after Mr Van Niekerk apprehended him on the night of the burglary in Okavango Street.

The breakthrough in the murder investigation came when detectives went to confirm the suspect’s address.

They discovered the address he gave to the police was the same as an address that was being pointed out in the investigation of Ms Tesner’s stolen cell phones.

Some of the items stolen from Ms Tesner’s apartment, were also found at the particular address.

The police confirmed that the suspect confessed to raping and murdering Ms Tesner, and then stealing her vehicle.

He apparently told the police that he first burned his blood soaked clothes and then proceeded to pick up his brother from a prayer meeting.

The detectives found the car abandoned in Limpopo.

The accused was previously convicted on three counts of burglary and one of house robbery, and was out on bail for a hijacking charge in Limpopo when Ms Tesner was murdered.

https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/133383/daughter-finds-moms-body-hours-after-murder/