‘My family died the day Hannah died’
“It is my belief that my family died when Hannah died.”
These were the words of Willem Cornelius in a heartbreaking first appearance at the trial of his daughter’s killers as sentencing procedures got under way on Thursday.
Later, the lawyers for her killers could barely find a single mitigating reason to convince the court to mete out lenient sentences.
Judge Rosheni Allie will sentence the men on Monday.
Wearing a white rose in his jacket‚ Cornelius told the high court in Cape Town: “My son and I are not a family‚ we are merely survivors after losing Hannah and her mom, Anna.”
Anna drowned near Scarborough in Cape Town – less than a year after the couple’s 21-year-old daughter, Hannah, was raped and murdered.
“Our autistic son has a picture of Hannah and still asks every night for a year and a half‚ ‘When is Hannah coming home‚ aren’t the holidays over?’‚” he testified.
Hannah’s family arrived in court with white roses.
The Stellenbosch University student was found dead on a farm 20km outside Stellenbosch on May 27 2017.
Vernon Witbooi‚ Geraldo Parsons and Eben van Niekerk all face possible life imprisonment after being found guilty on Wednesday of robbing‚ kidnapping‚ raping and murdering Hannah.
They were also found guilty of the attempted murder of her friend‚ Cheslin Marsh‚ and kidnapping and robbing Miemie October and Ncumisa Qwina.
Throughout the trial, the men laughed as they watched each other testify and gawked at witnesses and journalists.
A fourth man‚ Nashville Julius‚ was found guilty of robbery and kidnapping.
The first witness to take the stand on Thursday was Cheslin’s mother‚ Marilyn Marsh.
“Who does something like that to a person? My son did nothing to you‚” she said‚ speaking directly to the convicted men in the dock.
The first thing her son had said to her when she saw him covered in blood at Tygerberg Hospital was‚ “Please tell the police to go look for Hannah‚ they are going to hurt her”.
She stayed with her son for two weeks at the hospital due to the extent of his injuries after the attack.
Hannah’s father, a former magistrate, said: “Regarding Hannah‚ I suspect all parents believe their children were exceptional and we were no different.
“She was a blessing from birth‚ no terrible twos‚ no teething [problems].
“She became part of the management when her autistic brother was born. It’s hard to describe how I feel.
“I was medically boarded after the incident.
“I would have quit anyway. “I had no doubt that I could not keep impartiality in court matters after this incident.
“I’m on a daily antidepressant medication. My life has contracted‚ no joy‚ no hope or goals for the future,” he said.
“I didn’t come here today to look for sympathy.
“I ask the court to only apply sentencing that will prevent any other family from going through what we have gone through.”
Arguing in mitigation of sentence later, the killers’ lawyers could only ask the court to consider the men’s youthfulness‚ being pressured into joining gangs and their lack of education.
They said drug use could also have impelled the men to go on the orgy of crime in Stellenbosch.
Prosecutor Lenro Badenhorst said the men’s criminal histories and the seriousness of the crimes warranted harsh sentences without the option of parole.
Their criminal records include housebreaking‚ theft‚ possession of drugs and robbery. Van Niekerk is currently serving time for robbery.
Badenhorst said the men deserved life sentences for gang rape.