ANTOINETTE KEYSER, Nigel | Tuesday
FORENSIC evidence submitted to the Nigel Regional Court on Monday showed that a 66-year old grandfather had almost certainly committed incest with his 33-year-old daughter.
Robert Fedder and his daughter Breggie Kamffer went on trial on charges of incest on Monday after they were arrested on a farm in the Delmas district more than a year ago.
Fedder’s 61-year old wife, Elsina, and 40-year old son, Jan, were also arrested at the time.
Fedder and his wife were initially only charged with aiding and abetting the incest allegedly committed between Kamffer and her brother over a period of at least 16 years.
At their previous court appearance in August Robert Fedder was also charged with incest.
This followed the results of blood tests which indicated that he might have fathered Kamffer’s eldest son.
Kamffer on Monday pleaded not guilty to two counts of incest and Fedder pleaded not guilty to one count of incest.
Forensic experts from the police laboratories in Pretoria and Cape Town testified that DNA tests had indicated that Jan Fedder was definitely the father of Kamffer’s youngest son. The tests, however, excluded him as the father of the eldest son.
The tests, which were done on 18 sections of DNA, showed on 16 counts a similarity between the genetic material of Robert Fedder and Kamffer’s eldest son. It concluded therefore that there was a 99,9% possibility that Robert Fedder had fathered his daughter’s son.
Forensic and DNA expert, Superintendent Olga Phillips said the two sections on which the DNA of Robert Fedder and Kamffer’s son differed could be attributed to either a genetic mutation or a genetic defect. Further tests were necessary to determine which.
Phillips said there was only one chance in 600 000 that someone else might have fathered the child.
She said further tests would not necessarily increase the possibility to 100%. ”Scientists never say 100%, it is unethical,” she told the court.
The tests also showed conclusively that Robert Fedder was the father of both Kamffer and Jan Fedder and it showed that Kamffer and Jan Fedder were definitely brother and sister.
Investigating officer, Inspector Yolande Geldenhuys of the Secunda child protection unit, testified that one of Kamffer’s eight sisters had alerted welfare services in Bronkhorstspruit in July last year regarding an incestuous relationship between her brother and sister.
Lettie Bezuidenhout told welfare services she was worried because two children had already been born from the relationship and Kamffer was pregnant again.
The four family members were arrested on the farm Witklipbank in the Delmas district in Mpumalanga shortly afterwards.
Family members claimed that Kamffer, who was unmarried at the time of the arrest, had been pregnant at least ten times.
Kamffer was pregnant just before she was arrested. Medical tests confirmed this, but no sign of the baby could be found.
Although police did excavations at sites pointed out to them by the family who alleged that the babies may have aborted and buried on several of the farms the family had lived on in the past 16 years, no sign could be found of any remains.
In a statement submitted as evidence in court on Monday, the sister who blew the whistle on the relationship said that Jan Fedder had assaulted Kamffer regularly.
Lettie Bezuidenhout wrote in her statement that Fedder had assaulted Kamffer while she was pregnant and that the baby was stillborn. She said it was buried under ”the tree on the farm”.
She also said in her statement that Fedder had smoked dagga and even sniffed thinners. He also drank heavily and assaulted Kamffer while intoxicated.
Bezuidenhout said in her statement that Fedder had never forced Kamffer into having a sexual relationship with him. Kamffer had, according to her sister, climbed through a window to go to Fedder where he slept outside the house in a caravan.
Monday’s court proceedings became bogged down more than once with disputes between the prosecutor and defence lawyer, Zahid Omar.
Prosecutor Bennie Kilian wanted the case postponed to call more witnesses, but Omar contended that it was not necessary because all the relevant statements were on record.
After a short adjournment Omar acknowledged that statements by three of Kamffer’s sisters be admissible as evidence without them being called to testify.
During the evidence presented by the investigating officer, it also emerged that Kamffer after marrying a man nine years her junior in September last year, had gone back to her brother and that she had resumed her relationship with him.
Kamffer has since separated from her husband, Stefan Kamffer.
Jan Fedder committed suicide in March, apparently because he did not have access to his children.
The boys, aged 15 and seven at the time of their parents’ arrest, were taken to a place of safety where they remain.
When they were found on the farm, the boys were severely neglected and neither was attending school.
Omar, in his closing arguments, said the State had not succeeded in showing that Kamffer, her brother and her father had intended to have sexual relations. He said Kamffer could have been drugged and abused by both her father and brother.
He also said that the forensic tests did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Robert Fedder was the father of Kamffer’s eldest son.
The case was postponed to November, 22 for judgement. -Sapa