Warning: Graphic content
State Pathologist Dr Nadene-Louise Scherman, gave a detailed description to the Western Cape High Court of the post-mortems conducted on the murdered siblings, Faith and Conray Adams from Vredenburg, describing the depth of the injuries as ‘overkill’.
Dr Scherman took the stand on Wednesday in the murder trial of Derick Kalmeyer, accused of killing Faith (3) and Conray (18 months), the children of his former girlfriend, Frizaan Adams, in May 2019.
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As reported by IOL, Kalmeyer (54) is on trial for two counts of murder, two for attempted murder, and one count of resisting arrest, to which he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
According to Frizaan Adams, Kalmeyer attacked her and her friend with a crowbar before he stabbed Faith 17 times with a broken beer bottle and flung Conrad through a closed window.
Frizaan testified on what transpired on the night of the murders: ‘I was laying in the bed and Christolene was sitting at my feet with her child. He came in with a crowbar in his hand and said he feels like he can kill me, Faith and Conroy.’
Frizaan said she was grabbed by Kalmeyer’s sister, who hid her in a cupboard. She recalls hearing Faith and Conray crying.
‘Her crying just stopped and I had to push my way through to get to my children. I couldn’t hear Faith cry anymore and I saw Derick’s sister holding her, she was already dead. He stabbed her 17 times. Conroy was on his knees and all I heard him say was: “pappa”. I saw some blood and we were taken away with an ambulance to the hospital.’
‘I was standing outside the room and they were busy putting pipes in him. The doctor came out and said I must get ready as we are going to Cape Town and that is when he died inside the room.’
Dr Scherman told the court that Faith had been stabbed 17 times. The autopsy of Faith’s body revealed that a sharp object punctured the little girl’s heart, lungs and liver.
Further examination showed that she had been stabbed 10 times in her right arm, which represents defensive wounds.
Conrad suffered blunt-force trauma to the front of his head, indicative of an injury from a fall or being hit with a blunt object.
The post-mortem also revealed that Conray suffered a skull fracture and several stab wounds to his left arm.
When asked if there was anything else she would like to include, she said, ‘It was very upsetting doing these examinations. Whoever is responsible … it was overkill. Especially for a child and an 18-month-old who could not have defended themselves.’
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