Cape Town - The trial of David van Boven and Tasliem Ambrose continued in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, where the State attempted to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the two committed the offences they are charged with.
The two men have been charged with six counts of murder, rape, fraud or theft and robbery with aggravating circumstances after they allegedly killed Jesse Hess, 18, and Chris Lategan, 85, in their flat in Parow on August 30, 2019.
State advocate Emily van Wyk told the court that the accused ought to be convicted of the crimes due to the circumstantial evidence presented by the State.
Van Wyk proceeded to map out the versions witnesses gave in relation to the incident, which included the testimonies of Sandra Hess, Desmond Keyster, Dr Grace Uren, Adrian Pretorius, Laetitia Fortune and others.
She asked the court to accept their testimonies as evidence, and while some of the versions by witnesses may be contradictory, they should not necessarily be rejected.
She said the witnesses had confirmed that Hess and Lategan were last seen alive in the flat, and that the two accused placed themselves on the scene of the crime on the day of the murder.
With regards to Van Boven’s confession, Van Wyk said: “The confession is an unmitigated admission of view which would amount to a guilty plea as it has been made in a court of law and all possible defences should thus be excluded.”
She said Van Boven was not an impressive witness; he gave evasive answers and there was no corroboration in support of his evidence. She criticised his testimony as false and said he gave varying versions of events.
Van Wyk said Ambrose admitted that Lategan and Hess were strangled, which corroborates the evidence of the post-mortem report. She stated that Ambrose was not scared as he had claimed to be.
She said the two had worked in common purpose to commit the crimes, and Ambrose failed to report the matter to the police after he had multiple opportunities to do so.
Van Boven’s lawyer, Advocate Brendale Abrahams, said no evidence was found placing his client at the scene, and that the State lacked both fingerprint and DNA evidence to support its case.
He said the State had not proved rape because there was no evidence to support the conviction of rape. He told the court there was no camera footage to prove that his client withdrew money with Hess’s bank card and the only evidence the State had was what Ambrose had provided.
Ambrose’s lawyer, Advocate Christiaan Burger Brand, told the court that his client stood by his version of events, and the statements he made were credible.
The court will reconvene on May 9 for judgment.