Co-accused present at kidnapping
IN a turn of events, Nashville Julius, a co-accused in the Hannah Cornelius murder trial, admitted to being involved in the kidnapping of the Stellenbosch University student and her friend Cheslin Marsh.
Cornelius’s body was found with her pants lowered on the roadside, close to a wine farm in Stellenbosch.
Marsh escaped the attack with severe head injuries and a broken arm.
Julius, through his lawyer, Scalyn Collins, admitted to being with Vernon Witbooi, Gerald Parsons and Eben van Niekerk when they spotted Cornelius’s car parked in Bird Street, Stellenbosch. She sat with Marsh in the car.
He said Parsons and Witbooi approached the car and they followed.
Despite pleading not guilty to charges of kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances in his admissions, Julius confirmed that he took Marsh’s cellphone and wallet.
He added that he left his friends at the parked car to go and smoke.
Marsh, who concluded his testimony yesterday, recalled putting his head over a brick on the ground and closing his eyes to pray while his attacker stood over his head.
He struggled to control his emotions as he told the court of his neardeath experience.
“The two men were each holding a brick. I closed my eyes and prayed. I don’t remember what happened afterwards.” The attack left Marsh deaf in the left ear. He continues going for tests for his head injury.
In December, at an identity parade, he pointed out Witbooi and Julius.
The trial continues on Monday.