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Courtney's parents to hear how she died

Picture Credit: Anthony Molyneaux
Picture Credit: Anthony Molyneaux

Little Courtney Pieters’ parents are on their way to the mortuary in Cape Town to find out how she died.

On Tuesday afternoon Roegchanda Pascoe‚ spokesperson for the family‚ said: “The family never got to know the cause of death. No one ever came back to give her mother the findings of the autopsy.’’

The child was raped‚ killed and her body dumped on a field not far from her home in Elsies River. Her father’s best friend‚ Mortimer Saunders‚ was arrested and is being held at Goodwood prison.

 During his visit to the family home President Jacob Zuma said he struggled to come to terms with what had happened to Courtney and mentioned that her bones had been broken.

 Pascoe said her father‚ Aaron Fourie‚ desperately wants to speak to Saunders personally to find out what had happened.

 She said they grew up together and Saunders’ family still lives across the road.

 “Mortimer was like a brother to Aaron. A brother who invaded his life in a horrible way‚’’ said Pascoe.

 But she said Fourie is not allowed to make contact with Saunders.

 It had been rumoured that Saunders had been assaulted by prisoners. But according to a statement from Correctional Services in the Goodwood Management Area‚ Saunders had not been attacked at the prison.

 “He is accommodated in safe custody as per policy directive and in line with operational orders and procedures‚’’ the statement read.

 But Pascoe claimed they could hear other prisoners attacking him in holding cells when he appeared in the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court.

“We want to appeal to the guys in prison to allow him to speak…We want to know what happened. We suspected others were involved‚’’ said Pascoe.

 

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