Rob Packham has been found guilty of the murder of his 57-year-old wife, Gill Packham. He was also found guilty of defeating the ends of justice during his judgment on Monday.
Western Cape High Court Judge Elize Steyn said Packham had “direct intent” to murder his wife. She was reported missing after she failed to arrive at her job as a secretary at Springfield Convent School on February 22, 2018. Packham had murdered her by inflicting multiple blunt force injuries directly to her head before proceeding to burn her body after stuffing her in the boot of her car.
Although Packham previously maintained that he had been driving around to find a car for Gill as a surprise birthday gift on the morning of her disappearance, this was never recorded in his initial testimony when he was first questioned by police.
According to Judge Steyn, Packham did not act in the manner of a husband who was distraught by the death of his wife.
“He deceived his wife and family. He had finally removed his wife,” Steyn said during the judgment.
Gill’s sisters, Helen and Sue Humphrey, took to social media to air their feelings on both the death of their beloved sister and how she died.
“For the past 15 months we have been dealing with the brutal murder of our sister Gillian Packham (nee Humphrey) and the subsequent revelations of the tragic and painful circumstances she was subjected to in the years and months leading up her murder by Rob Packham,” they said via Facebook. “While we became aware of some of these details in the last few months of her life, the conspiracy of silence surrounding Gill meant that we have only learned the full extent of what was taking place in the Packham family through this trial. [Yesterday’s] outcome by Judge Steyn allows us to acknowledge that justice has occurred for our sister. The fact that justice has been done does not take away the fact that girls lost their mother and we lost a beautiful sister.”
Picture: Justice for Gill/Facebook
