Killer attempted to behead Nadine Esterhuizen and ripped out her hair

The murder of Nadine Esterhuizen allegedly committed by her estranged girlfriend, Corrine Jackson has been described as the most horrific murder in Mitchell’s Plain after the pathologist revealed that pools of blood, a cup of blood and hair which was ripped out of the head was found at the scene - and that the attacker had tried to behead the victim.

This is the view of crime fighters and the Mitchell’s Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF) who  bore witness to the gripping testimony of Forensic State Pathologist, Dr Varushka Bachan.

A second day on the witness stand, Bachan gave a meticulous and chilling description of the crime scene, including that of the body while being armed with the photographs taken by her colleagues on the day of the murder on September 27 2017.

Although she had not been at the crime scene and conducted the post mortem, the state asked her to give an expert opinion of the crime scene.

On Tuesday, Bachan gave a description of Esterhuizen’s injuries stating that she had seven gaping wounds to her head.

Bachan said by demonstrating by moving her head in a bending position, that the killer had to be higher than the victim, in order to inflict the wounds to the back of the neck and thyroid, wanting to behead her.

Bachan first began looking at the blood splatter throughout the house and said pools of blood had been found in the kitchen, the fridge, doors, walls and on items such as a cup which had been standing on the counter.

“It appears to have blood splatter inside,” she said.

When the State asked whether it could only be blood, she answered: “Itis possible that there is only blood in the cup.”

She said trails of blood splatter on the kitchen floor were indicative that the victim had perhaps crawled and that her knees and jeans were also covered in blood.

The court was left reeling when she described Esterhuizen’s body found in the corner of the kitchen, lying in a pool of blood and held the photographs to bear testimony.

When asked what could have caused the death, she said the perforating of the internal jugular vein and that her eyes and mouth had been open.

“The mechanism of death being catastrophic blood loss,” she stated.

The State asked what the pictures suggested: “That she was able to give a defensive stance.”

Bachan then described the clumps and strands of hair found on the kitchen floor and some which had fallen onto Esterhuizen’s hand possibly while defending herself from the head wound, stating that the hair had been ripped and torn out as opposed to being cut.

Linda Jones, Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Mitchell’s Plain Community Policing Forum said they felt so much emotion listening to the testimony.

“She is a heartless killer," said Jones.

“We have seen many crime scenes in Mitchell’s Plain, many shootings, faces being shot away, but the description of this crime scene, is beyond anyone’s imagination.”

The trial has been postponed to November 4 and 5 for Jackson’s legal team to gain an expert witness’ opinion on the evidence led by thee pathologist on the blood splatter.

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Cape Argus