Before she died, Gill Packham suffered two massive blows to the right side of her head which caused her jaw to crack.
This was revealed at the Cape High Court yesterday where her husband Rob Packham, 58, is on trial for her murder.
According to the state’s case, the former Twizza boss allegedly killed his wife in their Constantia home and then set her green BMW on fire with her inside the boot.
On Monday, biological anthropologist, Louise Friedling, from UCT gave the court a demonstration using a plastic skull to explain Gill’s injuries.
She said Gill received three blows to her head, but the two injuries on the right side of the head which were made with “considerable force” were the cause of death while a third blow on the left side was likely the cause of a fall.
Finger, shoe and tyre expert, Captain Danie van der Westhuizen, also took the stand where he told the court it appeared Packham changed the tyres of his Audi Q5 after the incident.
He explained during the investigation at Diep River train station, officers found tyre treads and compared this to pictures taken of Packham’s Audi and it appeared similar.
But when officers went back a second time to photograph the Audi, they found the treads no longer matched.
Wynberg duty commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Hendrick Labuschagne, also testified.
He said Packham came to the station after 5pm on 22 February 2018 and said he wanted to file a missing person’s report, and he told the accused that while he could open the case at Wynberg, it would be transferred to Diep River SAPS.
He advised Packham to go to Diep River so detectives could get on the case quicker, and never told him to wait 24 hours to report his wife missing.