A student was kidnapped, gang raped and murdered in South Africa after giving a pal a lift home to stop robbers stealing his skateboard, a court heard.
Hannah Cornelius, 21, had pulled up outside the flat of fellow student Cheslin Marsh, 22, at midnight when a group of four men rushed towards her car.
One of the gang thrust a screwdriver to her chest through the open window while another thrust a knife to the back of Mr Marsh,UK Sun reports.
The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town heard one of the gang shouted at him: ”Sit still or she dies”.
Mr Marsh was robbed of cash and his phone and locked in the car boot and then the four men drove to a drug dealer’s home to buy drugs and smoked crystal meth.
Magistrates’ daughter Hannah was wedged between two of the four men in the back seat of the VW Golf which her grandmother had given to her as a birthday present.
They then drove out of the upmarket wine producing town of Stellenbosch near Cape Town in Hannah’s car and it later pulled over and they took Mr Marsh into the bushes.
Three men made him lay his head on a rock on the ground and then battered his skull with house bricks until they thought he was dead then left his blood soaked body.
That afternoon Marsh recovered consciousness and staggered to a nearby home suffering severe head injuries and a broken arm to raise the alarm about Hannah.
Unknown to him her body had been found earlier several miles away dumped by the roadside and a huge police search was already underway for him and the gang.
Hannah had been dragged into bushes at a vineyard and gang raped by three of the men and then her skull was crushed with a large rock and she was stabbed in the neck.
She was described as a “brilliant student” and the daughter of magistrate Willem Cornelius and lawyer wife Anna, 56, who tragically drowned 10 months after her murder.
Victim Hannah was a straight A’s student and was in her second year at Stellenbosch University studying for a BA in Humanities when she was gang raped and murdered.
Four men Vernon Witbooi, 33, Geraldo Parsons, 27, Nashville Julius, 29, and Eben Van Nieberk, 28, face a string of charges including murder, kidnap, robbery and rape.
Distraught fellow student Cheslin Marsh broke down in tears repeatedly as he told how they were hijacked and he was locked in the boot while Hannah was kept inside the car.
Cheslin said they had been out for a few drinks and to a dance and said he was going to use his skateboard to get home but Hannah insisted on driving him in case he was robbed.
Mr Marsh said when they pulled up the gang pounced threatening to stab Hannah to death with a sharpened screwdriver and him to death with a knife placed at his back.
He described how they were driven to a suburb of Cape Town called Kraaifontein 11 miles from where they were hijacked in Stellenbosch and he was pulled from the car boot.
He said:
“I lay down on the ground as they told me and put my head on a rock. I closed my eyes and I prayed. The two men were standing over me with bricks in their hands.
“I lost consciousness and when I woke I was in horrible pain, everywhere pain. When I last heard Hannah talking her voice was very soft and I could tell she was scared”
Mr Marsh was so traumatised he never returned to his studies and is now deaf in one ear as a result of his injuries and vivid scars could be seen on his head as he gave evidence.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
