Witness says he saw vehicle in which murder victim’s body was found

A NEIGHBOURHOOD watch member from Bergvliet who claimed to have seen the vehicle where Gill Packham’s body was found came under scrutiny at the Western Cape High Court yesterday.

Paul Gray, 76, gave testimony about how he had seen a man he believed to be alleged wife-killer Rob Packham speed off in a green BMW on February 22 last year.

Gray said he noticed a stationary “dark metallic green BMW” vehicle with no licence plates on it in Martius Way, Bergvliet, on the day Gill had gone missing.

The vehicle raised his suspicion after he noticed the car also had no licence disc displayed.

He had then decided to turn his vehicle around to face the BMW about 60m away and record this information.

“When I looked up from my notebook I saw a gentleman getting into the vehicle. I drove over to him to indicate that there appeared to be some problem with his licence plates and showed him to stop before driving off. He was not looking directly at me at the time but he looked anxious.

“He then (appeared to bang his hands) in the direction of the steering wheel, then sped off,” Gray said.

Asked by State prosecutor Susan Galloway if he could confirm whether the man he had seen was in court, Gray, after a pause, said: “Yes, although there is someone who looks very similar.”

The court needed clarity on this and allowed Gray to step off the witness stand to place his hand on the shoulder of the man who he identified as the man who got in the vehicle.

Gray then placed his hand on the shoulder of Packham after seemingly comparing features with someone in the public gallery.

Also on the stand yesterday was licence plate recognition (LPR) controller Tarryn Steed, who said that through technology used in the LPR system, they were able to review information on their system where Gill’s green BMW was noted driving along Boundary and Kendal roads on the day she went missing.