“I saw him wurg Jesse with her belt.”
This was part of the chilling confession made by murder accused Tasliem “Boontjie” Ambrose to police during the investigation into the murder of UWC student Jesse Hess and her 85-year-old oupa Chris Lategan.
The statement made by Boontjie two months after the double murder in August 2019 was read out at the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
In it, he claimed that his co-accused David van Boven took Jesse’s clothes from the crime scene after she had been raped.
Boontjie, who has pleaded not guilty, said Van Boven took him to the Parow flat on 30 August 2019 on the pretext that he was going to get money from his family.
He told police that David attacked oupa Chris and dragged Jesse into a room and locked the door.
Boontjie said after a while when he opened the door, he saw that Jesse was naked.
“I saw him wurg the lady with the belt of her gown.
“Before that happened, he asked her where is the sellotape, and for her bank card pin. She gives him the number 1124.
“Then he said to me I must take the small TV.
“He put the sellotape around her head and strangled her again. When I came out, I saw the elderly man was also choked with a belt.
“That’s when I left the house. What he did with the lady in the room, I don’t know what he did.
“He came out with the big TV, the bag with her laptop and the clothes she had on and took it with him.”
Boontjie said while in the car, Van Boven took Jesse’s ID card and cut it up with a blade.
“My nerves were klaar. Even from the night before, because he is a 28s tronk bende.” (sic)
During cross-examination of the investigating officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Adrian Pretorius, Van Boven’s lawyer said that he maintained his innocence, and denied Boontjie’s claims.
Van Boven’s arrest in September 2019 for the double murder was also raised and Pretorius said he was released as no evidence had linked him to the crime scene.
He admitted it was only the confessions made by Van Boven and Boontjie that placed them on the scene.
He explained that a barber in Ravensmead confirmed he bought Jesse’s phone and that the phone was tracked after it had been sold to a man named Amien Hassan.
Cops recovered texts between Jesse and her boyfriend Set Baloyi, in which she told him about Van Boven, describing him as someone that “used to be a family friend that takes drugs and is involved in gangs”.
She further said that he came to the flat where Sandy Hess had given him “something” and that the family was worried because he came with sketchy friends.
Jesse also revealed in the texts that one day when she was alone at home, David had arrived at the flat and she pretended not to be in because she feared him.
The trial continues.