Inside the trial of Zurenah Smit and Karel Derek Sait: A farmer's tragic death
Wine farmer Stefan Smit and his wife Zurenah. Stefan was killed during an attack at his Stellenbosch wine estate, Louiesenhof.
Image: File
An Inspection-loco, a total of 18 State witnesses including a handwriting and ballistic expert, marks the beginning of the end of the 2019 murder of Stellenbosch farmer, Wynand Stefanus Smit allegedly at the hands of his wife, Zurenah Smit and her co-accused Karel Derek Sait.
The investigating officer, Warrant Officer, Stephen Adams was set to take the stand as the final state witness on Monday at the Western Cape High Court.
This week, the National Prosecuting Authority confirmed that via an inspection in loco held earlier, shots were fired to illustrate the sound audibility as accused number 2 (Sait) denied hearing the fatal shots while being in the same premises, five metres away from where the deceased was lying in the kitchen.
The trial took its twists and turns with illnesses and both accused have since pleaded not guilty to the list of 16 charges and initially there was a third accused, Steve Damon, whose death certificate was handed over to the court and his death is now under investigation.
Eric Ntabazalila communications for the NPA said numerous witnesses testified: “The state has led experts namely handwriting expert, ballistic expert, sound expert and electric fencing expert.The state applied to hand in two statements of deceased witnesses who were the deceased executors of his estate, the application was opposed and the court gave judgment to provisionally allow the statements.
“The state has called 18 witnesses, the main witness being a section 204 witness, who is in witness protection."
Ntabazalila said the state’s case was as follows: “His (hitman) testimony is brief, that he was asked by accused 1, Zurenah Smit to murder the deceased and she would pay him when she received her inheritance.
“She (allegedly) provided him with a weapon she and he had previously stolen from the deceased's safe after allegedly drugging him with the 204 witnesses’ sleeping tablets. He testified accused 1 left the back door open for them to enter, she gave them a signal by switching on the outside light and they entered and shot the deceased. The murder was supposed to portray a farm murder/ robbery."
During the inspection in loco, Smit claimed to be a victim.
“I passed out here, I was busy making tea while we were having dinner… and when they rushed in screaming for money, I screamed, I was in shock and I was lying here passed out until one of the (attackers) threw me over there (pointing)," she said during the inspection in loco," she said.
The state is set to prove that a day prior to the murder, Wynand Stefanus had sold his farm Watergang for R45.6 million and had shared the news with a close friend and that he no longer needed security guards.
Its alleged that Smit , together with her co-accused, a security team, had planned the murder..
Its further alleged that she had forged her husband and her mother-in-law’s wills to make herself the main beneficiary.
The deceased owned several businesses such as Louisenhof Cellars CC, Ribbok Heuwels Trust (owner of Steeneveld Farm and a Stellenoord house), and WS Smit Watergang Trust etc.
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