STATE'S SIAS APPEAL DISMISSED

THE Western Cape High Court last week dismissed the State’s appeal to overturn the acquittal of Jeremy Sias for the 2019 murder of Meghan Cremer.

The judgment was handed down on Friday after the State brought the application last month, questioning defence witness Linda Mohr’s credibility.

Cremer, a showjumper, disappeared on 3 August 2019 and was discovered dead five days later in Philippi.

During the trial, the State argued that Sias broke into Cremer’s cottage, killed her and stuffed her body in the boot of her car before getting rid of it.

However, Sias claimed he found Cremer’s car abandoned and took it for a joyride before finding her body in the boot and then dumping it.

Mohr previously testified that she identified Cremer as the driver of a vehicle captured on CCTV leaving the property at 6.26pm on the day of her disappearance.

Prosecutor Susan Galloway said in her application that Mohr was a “hostile” witness.

The State argued that when Mohr stated that Cremer’s vehicle was seen leaving the property on the CCTV footage at 6.26pm that she was able to identify the driver of the car and at that point the defence stated that the person who was in the vehicle was either the murderer or the deceased.

Galloway says: “Mohr said she identified the driver as [Cremer] and based her identification on a ponytail that she used to wear. When she was asked what she saw as the ponytail the record [shows] she [changed] her version of the ponytail...”

She added that the prosecution was stopped by the judge on cross-examination on Mohr when she identified the driver being Cremer.

However, Judge Elizabeth Baartman said in her judgment there was no merit in the State’s application and dismissed it.

Sias, parolled for theft and defeating the ends of justice, remains acquitted of murder.