Trial delays for Corrine Jackson: A call for justice after nearly a decade
Murder accused Corinne Jackson.
Image: File
The State and court watch officials have insisted that there be no further delays in the murder trial against Corrine Jackson.
The urgent call comes after Jackson revealed that instead of pursuing legal aid, she is attempting to gather funds to secure a private attorney for her defence.
Jackson made an appearance in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, where she informed the court that she did not hand over documentation to Legal Aid, as she wanted to seek private counsel.
Earlier this year, the court heard that Jackson’s previous attorney, Asghar Mia, would no longer represent her.
During proceedings this week, the State remarked that the matter had been on the court roll for nearly ten years, to which Jackson responded that it was "eight years".
September would mark nine years since the murder of Athlone High School matric learner, Nadine Esterhuizen, of Mitchells Plain.
The State is set to prove that Jackson had tried to behead her victim inside a house in Colorado Park in 2017 by leaving seven gaping wounds in her head, and that her sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck, which is the largest muscle in that area, and the jugular vein had been penetrated.
Slain Nadine Esterhuizen, 18, was murdered.
Image: File
Linda Jones of the Mitchells Plain United Residents Association (MURA) and court watch group said they were dissatisfied with several postponements due to Jackson’s change in legal representation.
“We are extremely unhappy that the delays are mostly caused by the accused because whenever the case seems to get to the end, she decides to change her defence,” said Jones, who has been observing the matter since the beginning.
“We urgently request the court to take this into consideration and not grant any more postponements. This is not fair to the victim's family. It has been a very gruesome murder that shocked the entire community, and the fact that the perpetrator is still free to enjoy her life. We call for justice to not be delayed anymore.”
In November, the trial rocked Cape Town when the Forensic State Pathologist, Dr Varushka Bachan, a witness in the case, took the stand and said: “At the time of her autopsy, the majority of her blood was missing, and her organs were pale."
Bachan had also testified that it appeared that Esterhuizen’s hair had been pulled out of her scalp.
Earlier during the trial, the court heard that Jackson told medical staff after her arrest that she had sustained injuries, which were confirmed to be possibly self-inflicted.
She claimed she was harmed because she was fighting with knives with another person who was now deceased.
Jackson was arrested after she was found inside a locked bathroom and had two daggers in her possession.
In a medical report that had earlier been read by Bachan, it was revealed that Jackson’s wounds were described as superficial lacerations to her neck and above the hip and chest, which were coded yellow, indicating they were not life-threatening.