Three-year-old Courtney Pieters was definitely alive when she was raped, the Western Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.
During cross-examination for the State, forensic pathologist Professor Johan Dempers, testified that there was blood inside Courtney’s vagina and this bleeding could only have been caused if the girl was alive when she was sexually violated, allegedly by her killer, Mortimer Saunders.
Dempers previously testified that there had been “ghosting”, caused by the remains of red blood cells, but he could not confirm that this was caused by bleeding.
STAND: Prof. Johan Dempers. Photo: Noor Slamdien/ AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY (ANA)
However, Wednesday he said further testing has now proven the red blood cells was indeed blood and the only way Courtney could have bled, was if she was alive during the rape.
Saunders, 42, has admitted to poisoning and killing Courtney, but denies raping her.
Instead, he claims after she died, he violated her body by inserting three fingers inside her vagina.
However, Dempers testified that Saunders’ semen was found in the child’s vaginal vault.
Wednesday, Saunders sat as if drugged, eyes slightly closed, listening to Dempers repeating everything he had said in his previous testimony.
CASE: Mortimer Saunders at court. Photo: Noor Slamdien/ AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY (ANA)
Defense attorney, Mornay Calitz, was armed with a report from a private pathologist, Segaran Naidoo, appointed by the defense to review the post-mortem done on the child’s tiny body.
Calitz wanted to know if semen-contaminated fingers could have been inserted into the vagina causing the lacerations, thus accounting for the semen found in the vaginal vault.
At this point, Courtney’s mother, Juanita Pieters, became very emotional, stood up and quickly left the gallery.
Following a brief break, Calitz, referring to Naidoo’s generic rape report, said the penis usually enters at an angle.
But Dempers said the rape of an adult cannot be compared to that of a child.
“This case does not conform to that of a general rape. With children, movement is restricted and lacerations will be unpredictable.
“An adult victim will be pinned down and penetration will be at an angle,” Dempers said.
Courtney disappeared from her Elsies River home in May last year. Her body was found nine days later in Epping Industria.
Saunders, who had been boarding with the family for two years, said he killed the child because he had “issues” with her mother.
The case continues.