Mother of murdered student drowns in sea

THE mother of slain Stellenbosch University student Hannah Cornelius drowned yesterday – less than a year after Hannah was raped and murdered.

Someone close to the family‚ who did not want to be named‚ confirmed that Anna Cornelius‚ 56‚ had died .

She leaves her husband Willem and son Andries.

Anna’s body was found floating offshore of Scarborough on the Cape Peninsula.

The National Sea Rescue Institute station commander at Kommetjie‚ Ian Klopper, said it was suspected that she had drowned.

At 9am yesterday the NSRI Kommetjie duty crew had launched a sea rescue craft after reports of a body floating offshore of Scarborough‚ Klopper said.

“On arrival on the scene the body of an adult female was recovered.”

The police have opened an inquest docket.

This comes less than a year after Hannah‚ 21‚ was raped and killed on May 27 last year.

The four men accused of the attack appeared in the Cape Town High Court on Friday for a pretrial hearing.

Vernon Witbooi‚ Eben van Niekerk‚ Geraldo Parsons and Nashville Julius will spend another month in jail until their trial gets under way. The case was postponed to April 20‚ because the defence said it had not yet received all the state’s evidence against the men.

Hannah and her friend‚ Cheslin Marsh‚ were hijacked and kidnapped in the early hours of May 27.

Marsh was stabbed and hit with a brick but managed to find help after he was left for dead in Kraaifontein‚ near Stellenbosch. – TimesLIVE