Kirsten Kluyts alleged killer denies her blood was on his clothes
The 21-year-old student, who was arrested at his Sandton residence at the end of last month, faces charges of premediated murder, rape, and robbery under aggravating circumstances.
The court has heard from the accused that he discovered Kluyts’ lifeless body at the bottom of an embankment at George Lea Park.
She had been participating in a MyRun event when she went missing on 29 October.
The suspect has testified he came across her body when he stopped to relieve himself.
He said upon discovering that what he had seen wrapped in a “rag” was a person, he turned the deceased over and attempted to feel for a pulse.
The accused said when he had established that Kluyts was already dead, he proceeded to remove her clothes and then fled the scene with them.
“Only after I realised that she passed away, that’s when I got scared - because I didn’t want to get involved because I had already touched the body. That’s why I took the clothes and left,” he told State Prosecutor Ayanda Bakana during cross-examination.
The man maintained he took the clothes because he feared he would linked to the murder through his “fingerprints” when he touched her.
He's maintained throughout proceedings that he did not harm or kill the Delta Park teacher, adding that he had panicked when he realised that the deceased was a woman and she was white.
Led by his lawyer, Advocate Itumeleng Masako, the accused previously told the court that he would accept charges of defeating the ends of justice and theft for taking Kluyts' clothes, but he has repeatedly denied killing her.
On Tuesday, the state put it to the suspect that he wore her blue t-shirt because the black t-shirt he was originally wearing, was bloodied.
He denies this, saying he used his t-shirt to conceal the ski pants, cap, and running shoes he removed from Kluyts: “I don’t think blood would show on a black t-shirt…I don’t have an explanation for why I wore the t-shirt.”
The accused later told the court that the sunglasses and watch found at his residence did not belong to the deceased.
KLUYTS WAS PREGNANT
It's emerged, during cross-examination by the state, that Kluyts was pregnant when she was attacked.
“The deceased was walking; she was not running she was walking due to her personal circumstances. The fact that she was 14 weeks pregnant," Bakana told the accused, who denied any knowledge of this before court proceedings.
Kluyts' pregnancy was further confirmed when the accused, led by his lawyer, read from a part of the postmortem report.
"Pelvic walls intact and showed no abnormalities. Genital organs; there were no obvious injuries on the external genitalia - labia, anus, perineal area and vaginal canal. The uterus contained a male foetus, weighing 54 grams, whose estimated gestational age is +/- 14 weeks."
It's alleged Kluyts was raped on the day she died.
The bail proceedings are expected to continue on Wednesday.
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