The Chronicle

UMVUMA, Wednesday, February 12, 1969 — Father Walter Frei, a priest at the Dreifontein Catholic Mission, described claims of a fight between Father Cornelius Dober and an African, Kasimiro,as “impossible” when he gave evidence at Umvuma Magistrate’s Court today.

He was a witness at a preparatory examination into an allegation of murder at which Kasimiro appeared.

At the end of the hearing, the magistrate, Mr JH de Beer, told Kasimiro that the papers in the case would be sent to the Attorney-General, who would consider what action would be taken.

Father Dober was found dead with a stab wound in the neck on January 14. His motor cycle was next to him.

Fr Frei said Fr Dober was the superior at Dreifontein until his death.

“If a man behaved in a certain habitual way on 100 occasions then then he would re-act in exactly the same way on the 101st”, he said.

Mr Frei said that when Fr Dober’s body was cleaned soon after his death at a burse containing the Host — a sacramental wafer used by a priest when giving last rites — was found. “This would only be carried by a priest when answering a call to a sick or dying person and the fact that the Host was intact indicated that this particular purpose had not been fulfilled on this occasion”, he said.

Answering the prosecutor, Insp T Looker, Fr Frei said that if a priest was asked to attend to a dying person then he would answer the call immediately.

Fr Dober was killed between 4PM and 5PM and on that day Fr Frei had tea with him, leaving him at 3.50PM.

“I told him that I was conducting a funeral at 4PM and had he known he was on a similar duty he would have told me, but he said nothing”, Fr Frei said.