The investigating officer in a case involving a Cape Flats pastor accused of murder and rape Wednesday painted an even more sordid picture of skelm sex video, intimidation and the sexual assault of a young virgin.
Pastor Keith Bird of Mitchells Plain now faces 16 charges, which include five rapes, two murders, intimidation, crimen injuria and distribution of porn.
It is alleged he made secret sex tapes of his victims, the Mitchells’ Plain Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday where Detective Carlo Antha took the witness stand during Bird’s bail application.
TESTIFIED: Detective Carlo Antha took stand. Photo: Genevieve Serra
Bird’s trial was expected to start this month at the Cape High Court, but it has been delayed after he relaunched his bail application.
Standing in the dock with a thick case docket in front of him, Antha said Bird either lured his victims via Facebook or MXit, or gained the trust of young women who were in need of a job.
Bird was a pastor in Tafelsig and also worked as a street cleaning supervisor, sub-contracting for the City of Cape Town.
Antha said on 10 October 2013, Bird invited a female colleague to his home.
GIRLFRIEND: Aniesa Bardien. Photo: Supplied
Bird allegedly placed a cellphone in a bedroom and filmed the two of them having sex without the woman’s knowledge.
“He placed the phone where it could make a video of the intercourse. The victim was unaware of
the video,” Antha told the court.
He said later that day Bird showed the video to the woman saying he now had something to remember her by.
The next day Bird allegedly also showed their colleagues the video, but became angry when he heard the woman had made a case against him.
“The accused is therefore charged with crimen injuria and distributing of pornography.”
Antha said Bird approached another colleague and allegedly asked her to lie before court that he and the victim were in a relationship and offered to buy her a television.
“This is what the accused’s modus operandi is; he finds out what his victims’ needs are and uses that against them. But the co-worker refused and blocked his calls,” said Antha.
In another incident, Bird allegedly raped a young woman in his house after promising her a job at a local retailer.
Antha said the young woman had been a virgin.
Bird allegedly also showed a colleague a video of a woman who was getting undressed at Mnandi Beach, claiming he had had sex with her.
These victims were allegedly lured via Facebook and MXit.
One of Bird’s alleged murder victims is his girlfriend, Aniesa Bardien, whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in Strandfontein in January 2013.
He is also believed to be behind the murder of Sharvonne Koense, 20, who was strangled and raped and her body dumped along Baden Powell Drive, Tafelsig in August 2015.