A man who was initially arrested for stealing a gas cylinder has been handed a 20-year sentence after DNA linked him to an unsolved murder and rape committed in 2012 when he was 16 years old.
The discovery was made after police who arrested Shaun Romano Keyser of Prince Albert, Western Cape, last year for theft took his DNA. He was then linked to the rape and murder of 55-year-old Anna Abrahams which led to him confessing to the crime.
“For 12 years, he walked around the streets of Prince Albert and past the deceased’s house with her family not knowing that her murderer was someone known to them who was homeless,” said Eric Ntabazalila, National Prosecuting Authority’s Western Cape spokesperson.
According to Ntabazalila, Abrahams’ body was found on the evening of February 11 2012.
Postmortem results revealed that she had been raped, and the cause of death was recorded as alcohol intoxication, said Ntabazalila. Police made no arrests in the case, he said.
Twelve years later, Keyser’s grandmother opened a theft case against him for allegedly stealing her gas cylinder.
Police arrested him and took his DNA sample and sent it to the lab to compare if he is not wanted for any other case. “The DNA evidence linked him to the deceased’s rape and murder, and these results set the wheels of justice in motion. Keyser was then charged with the rape and murder of Abrahams.
“He made a warning statement as well as a confession, where he said that he was 16 years old at the time and claimed that two older co-accused forced him to have sex with the deceased. He said he complied with the instruction as they threatened him, but he denied that he killed the deceased,” said Ntabazalila.
Unhappy with the doctor’s findings on the cause of Abrahams’ death after studying the docket, the prosecutor - Hyron Goulding - approached Dr Hurst for a second opinion, Ntabazalila said.
The postmortem done after Abraham’s murder revealed that the cause of her death was intoxication because the deceased’s blood alcohol content was very high - 0.31 grams per 100 ml.
The prosecutor wanted to find out from Dr Hurst whether with the high alcohol level in the body, would Abrahams have been able to give legal consent to sex.
“Dr Hurst wrote a supplementary affidavit wherein she indicated that individuals with blood alcohol levels above 0.31 g per 100ml are very heavily intoxicated and can be stuporous or comatose. Their mood is apathetic with mental confusion, drowsiness, and disorientation. In that state, nobody can act clearly, and she could not give consent for sex,” said Ntabazalila.
Dr Hurst wrote a supplementary affidavit wherein she indicated that individuals with blood alcohol levels above 0.31 g per 100ml are very heavily intoxicated and can be stuporous or comatose.
— Eric Ntabazalila, NPA Western Cape spokesperson
Another question the prosecutor asked Dr Hurst was if he could establish whether there was evidence that Abrahams had been murdered or not?
Dr Hurst made a new finding that the deceased had petechial hemorrhage on her heart and lungs, which indicates an asphyxial death.
In her report, Hurst said: “While being sodomised, she would have been forced to face downwards and most likely was unable to breathe as her airways would have been obstructed.”
“I therefore do believe that she was murdered, the perpetrator knowing that she was not in a state to give any resistance or defend herself.”
Ntabazalila said insistence on a second opinion helped to strengthen the state’s case, and that Keyser ’s cross-examination also proved that he lied about the events that took place.
“Police traced the two individuals he claimed they forced him to have sex with the deceased. DNA results excluded them as only his DNA was found on the deceased’s body. ”Police had no evidence against the other persons except the word of Keyser, who kept quiet for 12 years.
“This case is a clear example of how science and the law come together in successfully solving crime through DNA evidence. The family of the deceased have prayed all these years that the culprit who killed their loved one would be found, and now he has been revealed. This culprit had been staying in the same street as the deceased for all these years, and he kept quiet all along for 12 years. When the State cross-examined him and asked him why he kept quiet, he said he was waiting for the police to come to him.”
The Oudtshoorn regional court sentenced him to 20 years.
The director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape, Adv Nicolette Bell applauded the investigation and prosecution teams “for the sterling work to ensure that this case was not another brutal cold case that goes unsolved”.
Bell said the conviction and sentence were a testament to the hard work and never-give-up attitude of the investigation and prosecution team, who ensured justice for Abraham and her family.
Sowetan
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