Acquittals in teen’s bar death
Magistrate concedes duo did not come across as ‘honest’
THERE was closure of a sort for a mother and an uncle at the end of a case involving the killing of 19- year- old Jethro van Schalkwyk, who died after a brawl in a Table View pub two and a half years ago.
Eight months after the incident in September 2012 Van Schalkwyk’s mother Brenda Proust-Jones became anxious when no arrests had been made, and after making inquiries the family found an incomplete case docket.
Proust-Jones said police had been moving at an “unacceptably” slow pace and opted to launch her own investigation until the Hawks came on board and two men were arrested.
Yesterday, Christoffel Marais and Garren Kenny were both acquitted of murder in the Cape Town Regional Court, but Proust-Jones left court saying she felt happy the whole process was over.
Marais was, however, found guilty of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm after he hit another man in the brawl, Bruce Prinsloo. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for four years unless he committed a similar offence.
On September 9, 2012, Van Schalkwyk was out with two friends, Prinsloo and Austin Bremmer, at the German Locker Club. They were involved in a scuffle on the dance floor with Marais and Kenny, and all five were told to leave the pub. The fight moved outside and continued in various locations, ending in a parking area outside a sushi restaurant.
Witnesses testified to seeing Marais accosting Van Schalkwyk and punching him before he fell to the ground, hitting his head on the kerb. Friends found him unconscious, his shoes missing.
Kenny was later found with Van Schalkwyk’s shoes, which he said he handed to the car guard to give back to Van Schalkwyk. Marais and Kenny were identified on CCTV cameras.
Doctors performed emergency surgery on Van Schalkwyk and he was kept alive by life support for 10 days before his family agreed that the machines be switched off. He died on September 18.
After eight months his family became agitated at the lack of progress in the case. Eventually Marais and Kenny were arrested.
Marais and Kenny denied being the aggressors that night. Kenny said he had merely observed. He had assisted Marais, taking him away from the scene.
Magistrate Wilma van der Merwe said there was no reason to criticise or reject the witnesses’ testimonies, but regarding Marais and Kenny, she said: “The court cannot say they came across as honest and reliable witnesses.”
She said Kenny had not been truthful and had given three different versions regarding Van Schalkwyk’s shoes.
“I cannot find that what they did to the deceased caused or added to his death.”
Kenny was not charged with assaulting Prinsloo.
Yesterday Proust-Jones said she was “a little bit aggravated” because they were “clearly lying”.
“But I think it would’ve been so much harder if the Hawks hadn’t gotten involved.”
Her bother Raymond Jones said: “Nothing was happening with this case so we started speaking to friends… putting pressure wherever we could.
“It shows that if you want to get something done you have to put pressure – for me it’s a huge victory to even get them to court and sit here and pay for lawyers – that at least is a bit of a punishment,” Jones said.
“We can’t say they’re 100 percent guilty after everything that transpired – but they are guilty of something.”