Johannesburg – Shocking revelations were made Wednesday in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court, where 21-year-old Varsity College student Bafana Mahungela described how he found the body of English teacher Kirsten Kluyts in George Lea Park, Parkmore.
Although Wednesday’s court appearance was meant to be a bail hearing, the accused surprisingly took the stand and offered a version of events on that fateful day when the Delta Park High School English teacher was found dead.
The murder accused said he was walking through the park when he noticed what he thought was a rug. He said he lifted the clothes and realised that there was a body underneath.
Mahungela told the court that because he did not want to get involved he took the took the clothing and left the scene.
He said he did not want to be traced via the fingerprints that he may have left on the dead woman’s clothing.
Mahungela said he disposed of the clothes before he was arrested.
At a previous court hearing, the lawyer for the accused had requested an adjournment to be able to view the CCTV evidence the prosecution said they had.
Today, Wednesday, (13 December 2023), the 21-year-old murder accused was further charged with rape and aggravated robbery.
Teacher Kluyts was running in George Lea Park at the end of October when she was attacked. Her body was later found down an embankment.
State Prosecutor Ayanda Bakana told the court that the postmortem report was now available, which suggested that the cause of teacher Kluyts’ death was “blunt force head trauma, strangulation, smothering, as well as pressure to the neck”.
The matter was adjourned to next week, Monday, (18 December 2023), for a continuance of the accused’s bail application.
