Alleged child killer and molester, Mohydian Pangaker, on Monday took the stand in his own defence at the Western Cape High Court, slamming state witnesses and his own family as liegbekke.
In a dramatic testimony, the 55-year-old man accused of murdering eight-year-old Tazne van Wyk, accused state witnesses of being gesuip and his family of being bribed to testify against him.
After three months, Pangaker finally spoke out, but had those in the gallery laughing in the first few minutes when he admitted he did not know the names of all his kids.
He told the court that he had been married twice and had three children from those marriages.
He explained that he was a father of eight, but he did not know the names of the five ‘loskinders’.
Pangaker never denied kidnapping Tazne on 7 February 2020 but says claims by state witness Allison Carelse that he planned to take the little girl to Beaufort West were false.
In her testimony, Carelse said that on the night of the kidnapping, she was in a white BMW driven by her friend when they saw Pangaker and Tazne on the N1 highway near Worcester and gave them a lift into the Boland dorp.
It is alleged that Pangaker told those in the vehicle that Tazne was being taken to her mother in Beaufort West.
However, on Monday he denied this: “I did not say that. I said I am taking her to her mother. They were dronk.”
While being questioned by defence advocate, Saleem Halday, Pangaker denied hitting his two grandsons and starving them.
The testimonies by the two young laaities were heard in camera where they told Judge David Maher that Pangaker forbade them from playing outside, beat them with leather belts, a buckle and a wooden spoon and only gave them one meal a day.
Pangaker said this was impossible as he worked and his daughter used her SASSA money to help sustain the household in Ladismith.
When confronted with a J88 form showing the one boy’s injuries, he claimed the boy hurt himself while playing.
“I never caused any injuries that I saw. Have you seen how they go on at the back? I always told them they are onnodig.”
Standing in the dock wearing a leather jacket and a black fez, Pangaker stared at his feet each time one of the rape cases came up.
Responding to questions by Halday on the multiple rapes of his granddaughter, he told the court it was “all lies”.
But he bungled his own testimony when he first claimed to never having been present yet he could give the court a detailed description of the areas where the attacks took place.
According to the indictment, he is accused of raping his grandchild from 2016 and 2019 and allegedly took her to a dam where he forced her to perform oral sex and to be quiet.
Looking at the pictures of the dam, Pangaker told the court that he did not know the area but then said it was impossible to have raped her there as the area was filled with broken glass.
“That’s a lie. It’s impossible, the dam is filled with broken glass and vuil water. I never threatened to kill her as I did nothing to her. No, no, no.”
Earlier in the trial his sister-in-law told the court that many years ago, Pangaker allegedly tried to solicit sex from her granddaughter.
She said Pangaker was banned from their home in Elsies River after they were told he offered the girl money for sex and showed her pornographic films.
Pangaker claimed he was in Genadendal at the time, but then stated: “How can I show her DVDs if there isn’t even a TV?
“I was in Genadendal and there was no confrontation with the family. Hulle is ingestop (bribed).”
The case continues.