The man accused of raping and killing UWC student Jesse Hess has been described by his ex-girlfriend as a “kerkman who helped around the house”.
Laetitia Fortuin, 37, took the stand to testify against David van Boven, 32, and told the Western Cape High Court that he was not at home on the morning that Jesse and her oupa, Chris Lategan, were murdered.
Their bodies were found after an alleged house robbery on 30 August 2019.
Both of them had been strangled to death, Jesse was also raped during the attack.
Van Boven, an alleged member of the 28s gang, was arrested several months later after he was identified as the suspect in the rape of a 16-year-old in Hanover Park.
He went on the run and was found hiding in Struisbaai.
The co-accused Tasliem “Boontjie” Ambrose was arrested days later and has since turned on Van Boven.
The mom of four said she had dated Van Boven for 11 months after meeting him on social media and they lived in her Hanover Park home.
The couple have a two-year-old daughter but split when he was arrested for the rape.
When asked to describe him, she said: “He was a kerkman and would go with me to church on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesdays.
“He cleaned the house and helped with making food.”
She said the night before the murder, he left the house in his white VW Golf and did not say where he was going.
He returned home after 12pm and left again, still not giving an explanation.
The timid-looking woman sobbed in the dock as the state prosecutor questioned her about their break-up.
As the rape charges against him are not part of the current trial, the witness could only tell the court they split when he was arrested for “the other case at Wynberg”.
During one of the breaks, correctional services personnel were forced to remove Van Boven from the dock as he became aggressive towards a news reporter and threatened her for taking pictures of him, despite the court permitting her to do so.
Meanwhile, the statement of a dead drug merchant from Bellville South also came under scrutiny as the state alleged that Van Boven had attempted to pawn a ring belonging to Jesse.
During the investigation, Elizabeth Kayster told police that the accused had arrived at her house on the day of the murders and told her he needed a R100 for petrol.
She gave him the R100 and in exchange for surety, he gave her a front loader and a silver ring believed to have been gifted to Jesse on her 16th birthday.
“He told me he had a lot of stuff to sell and when I asked him where he got it from, he told me: ‘Hy het getjaila’. This means he stole it,” the mert had told police.
Kayster died of natural causes before the trial started.
Her son Desmond also took the stand, confirming his mother was a drug dealer.
Van Boven could be seen laughing as Kayster’s statement was read.