A forensic pathologist, who has done over 4 000 post-mortem reports, has described the vaginal injuries suffered by Chanelle McCrawl, 10, as “the worst she has ever seen”.
This was revealed at the Cape High Court on Monday as the Manenberg girl’s uncle, Carlo de Kock, returned to the stand for sentencing procedures.
De Kock has pleaded guilty to rape, murder, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice for the death of the Grade 4 learner from Edendale Primary School.
Proceedings resumed yesterday where forensic pathologist, Dr Mandy Date Chong, described De Kock’s version of events as “unlikely”.
In his plea, De Kock claims that on 19 October 2017, Chanelle came to his Wendy house looking for his children and he told her they had already gone to school.
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He says on that morning he was smoking tik and he pulled Chanelle into the Wendy house, but she resisted and fell and hit her head on a brick.
He says while she lay bleeding, he took off her pants and underwear and inserted his finger into her private parts.
“I stopped after she started to bleed and during this time I ejaculated. Then I wiped my penis off with her grey school pants,” his statement read.
Chong, however, says according to the injuries, Chanelle was most likely strangled to subdue her, penetrated and then beaten until the base of her skull “cracked open like a door hinge”.
Chong, who was on the scene when Chanelle’s body was found, says the curtain her body was wrapped in was also used to strangle the child.
She says the blows to the girl’s head and the tear in her vagina caused Chanelle to bleed to death and choke on her own blood and vomit.
“This is probably the worst vaginal laceration I have seen,” the pathologist stated.
Chanelle’s emotional relatives cried in court while De Kock hung his head and covered his face.
Teacher Beryl Calvert wept on the stand as she told judge Judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe that she blamed herself for Chanelle’s death.
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She says on the day Chanelle went missing, she arrived at school to a class full of learners.
She noticed Chanelle was not there and blames herself for not looking for the girl.
When Chanelle’s body was discovered, Calvert suffered a nervous breakdown, later resigning. The case postponed to 30 May.