He felt sorry for his son-in-law and even invited him over for meals after his daughter’s murder, a young murder victim’s father told the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
Koos Britz testified in the trial of his son-in-law, Pretoria mechanic Pieter Viljoen (30), who was being retried for the alleged murder of his pregnant wife, Amelia.
Viljoen’s bloodied body was found in the bathroom of her home on a smallholding outside Pretoria in April 2001. Her throat had been slit and she was five months pregnant with her first child.
Britz testified that he and his wife rushed to the scene after receiving a phone call from his son’s mother-in-law, who told him it was about his daughter and that there was a lot of blood.
Inside the house, they first ran to the bedroom, where they found a large pool of blood. Inside the bathroom, they found their daughter lying on her side.
”I knelt next to her and touched her back, but her skin was already cold,” he said.
Viljoen arrived some time after the police, but just sat in the car with a bowed head. Britz eventually went to him and opened the door, telling him to come.
”Outside the bathroom, I told him, ‘Pieter, your wife is lying there.’ He looked over my shoulder and just said, ‘Amelia.’ Then he turned around and walked out with me. I felt sorry for him at that stage.
”I did not suspect anyone. We took Pieter to the doctor for an injection and took him back to his parents. He was only arrested about four months after the incident. He and his brother ate with us. He was rather popular among our people.
”Even our church’s people invited him over for meals. There were no problems. That’s why it was such a big shock. I don’t know about any financial problems,” Britz said.
Pieter Viljoen Snr’s gardener, Brian Moyo, who was initially arrested for the murder and spent several months in jail, told the court he was busy mending a fence that morning when he heard someone screaming his name.
Inside the house, he saw blood on the passage wall. He followed the blood marks to the bathroom, where he saw Amelia lying on her stomach. He could not see any open wounds on her. She was still alive and asked him to help her, but he did not touch her and instead went to his employer’s house, where he tried to phone the Viljoens.
When Viljoen Snr phoned, Moyo told him there was a problem and that he should come home quickly.
Judge Essop Patel discharged Viljoen in 2003 on the charge because of a lack of evidence against him. This was after the judge ruled that a confession, pointing-out and statement before a magistrate — in which Viljoen confessed to the murder — were inadmissible because Viljoen had not been warned of his right to remain silent and did not have a legal representative.
The state appealed and the Appeal Court thereafter ruled that Viljoen could be tried on the same charge for a second time.
Viljoen took the matter all the way to the Constitutional Court, but his application was dismissed.
Viljoen claimed during his previous trial he had been assaulted and forced to make the confession.
The trial continues. — Sapa