Verdict in Packham trial about to unfold
MURDER ACCUSED Rob Packham is to hear his fate today when Western Cape High Court Judge Elizabeth Steyn is expected to deliver her judgment in his murder case.
Packham appeared on charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice. He is accused of killing his wife, Gill Packham.
Gill’s charred body was found days after her disappearance last February 22, in the boot of a burnt BMW at the Diep River train station.
She was identified through forensic DNA analysis.
Prior to the commencement of the trial, Packham was initially released on R50 000 bail, but that amount was increased to R75 000 following a breach of bail conditions and subsequently revoked following another breach.
The court case started with the testimony of his daughter, Nicola Packham who told the court her parents had a fight the night before the decease’s murder.
She said her father had confessed in a marriage counselling session that he had feelings for the woman he had cheated on the deceased with.
Packham’s colleague, Lodewyk van Rensburg, testified about a call he received from the accused requesting that he lie and say they were in a meeting together on the morning the deceased disappeared.
Gill allegedly left home at 7am and Packham allegedly asked Van Rensburg to say that they were together in a meeting at 8.30am.
Packham, according to his version, spent the morning looking for a car deal.
He wanted to surprise his wife by buying her a car.
The State also called in two eyewitnesses who both pointed Packham out while he was seated in the dock.
Paul Gray, a neighbourhood watch patroller, testified that he saw Packham driving his wife’s car the afternoon of the disappearance in Lucius Way.
According to Gray, Packham was
(They must make an) agreed arrangement plan to pay off their arrears,” Neilson said.
Mike Heyns, of the civic activist group Stop CoCT, said that the City had pushed households into a tight space. “Individuals and small businesses are under tremendous pressure to keep up with rising costs, especially from the City of Cape Town, which increases tariffs by the CPI (Consumer Price Index) every year, plus lately two or three times CPI.
“The increase over the past four years for households is on average about 14% per annum, which is unsustainable, especially with the more vulnerable groups including pensioners. (They) are subjected to CPI income increases per annum and cannot keep up with the high increases any more. They simply start giving up.
“Despite a healthy cash flow and again an estimated underspending of capital expenditure by 15%, the City persists with higher-than-inflation increases. This will plainly result in more households falling in arrears and the outstanding debt will remain escalating,” he said.
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Pensioners cannot keep up with the high increases any more Mike Heyns STOP COCT