The Cape High Court on Tuesday viewed forensic video footage which included the Taliep Petersen murder scene, a police detective questioning one of the suspects, and footage of Petersen himself lying face down in a large pool of blood.
The footage was presented by Free State private pathologist Leon Wagner, engaged by Taliep’s widow, Najwa, who is one of the four suspects on trial for his murder.
Petersen and her three co-accused have pleaded not guilty before Judge Siraj Desai and assessors.
Wagner told the court Petersen was shot in the leg as he lay face down, hands and feet bound, on the floor of the TV room in his home. He said the shot to the neck could have caused instant death and would also have turned Petersen into a quadriplegic, had he survived.
Wagner warned that some of the scenes on the video footage might be upsetting to sensitive members of the public in the gallery, especially to the deceased’s family.
Desai then warned those in the gallery and invited them to leave the court when the video was played.
Asked by senior counsel Johan Engelbrecht, representing Petersen, about his background, Wagner said he went into private practice after his retirement as a chief state pathologist in the Free State.
He told the court he had performed more than 10 000 post-mortems but had stopped counting after 10 000.
He added: ”There was no point in counting any further.”
He had also done forensic analysis on more than 1 000 gunshot victims.
Wagner said the footage involved two aspects of the murder — the deceased before his body was removed from the murder scene, and one of Petersen’s co-accused explaining to a detective how the gun had been wrapped in a cushion before the shot was fired at Taliep.
Of the state forensic report, which he had studied, he added: ”I accept the correctness of the reports and I am bound by the observations, but I’m not bound by the deductions made by the state pathologist.”
He said burns around the gunshot wound confirmed that Taliep had been shot from a distance of five to eight centimetres — but not with a gun muffled by a cushion.
Both the third and fourth vertebrae were shattered by the shots, Wagner said.
He said the spinal cord was also shattered, which would have turned Taliep into a quadriplegic.
On Wednesday, Petersen’s defence is to call the pharmacist who dispensed Petersen’s medication. – Sapa