Griquatown accused was ‘hysterical’
Kimberley - Griquatown police officers tried to calm the teenager accused of killing the Steenkamp family when he arrived at the local police station, the Northern Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.
“He was crying, my colleagues were trying to calm him down,” Constable Greg Kotsoane testified.
Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo was hearing evidence in the trial of the 17-year-old youth accused of murdering Northern Cape farmer Deon Steenkamp, 44, his wife Christelle, 43, and daughter Marthella, 14.
They were shot on their farm Naauwhoek, near Griquatown, on April 6, 2012.
Kotsoane had arrived for his night shift and was taking over the shift duties, performing tasks such as inspecting the cells.
He testified under cross examination that the teenager stood on the public side of the charge office and was emotional and tearful.
He got the impression that the boy was shocked. He said a woman came and took the youth to give him sugar water.
Kotsoane said he received a phone call from a neighbouring farmer asking for an escort into town.
He testified that he also received a call from an officer from Kimberley, instructing him that the policemen at the murder scene should not remove or touch anything.
He was questioned about the amount of blood he saw on the youth's T-shirt.
Kotsoane said that while he had said in an affidavit that there was a lot of blood on the shirt, he had meant there were just stains of blood on it.
Another Griquatown policeman, Constable Jabulani Langa, who also came on duty that night, testified that the teenager repeated himself and was somewhat hysterical.
The case continues. - Sapa