Cape Town - Acting Judge Alan Maher ended the second day of his judgment in the trial of Moyhdian Pangkaeker with an indication that it would be concluded today.
Pangkaeker faces multiple life sentences for 11 counts of rape he allegedly committed between 2016 and 2019.
If convicted, the State is seeking an order that Pangkaeker’s name be placed on the National Register for Sex Offenders, as a consequence of child rape allegations.
He is also charged with the rape, kidnap, murder and mutilation of 8-year-old Tazne van Wyk, whose decomposed remains were discovered on February 19, 2020, almost two weeks after she went missing from her Elsies River neighbourhood on February 7, 2020.
On Tuesday, Maher concluded his summary of the State’s 37 witnesses who testified during the trial along with a summary of Pangkaeker’s version of events.
Several witnesses said they saw Pangkaeker, 57, with Tazne on the day she went missing. He was spotted at the tuck shop from where the girl had disappeared, in a minibus taxi with Tazne sitting on his lap, and later at a petrol station in Worcester.
It is alleged that he took the little girl without her parents’ consent, which he denied. He said on the day she disappeared, Tazne showed up out of the blue when a partially pink minibus taxi stopped him in his tracks, on his way to mosque.
He said the girl got into the taxi and he followed, blaming the four black foreigners inside the taxi for what happened to Tazne. He said they drove him and Tazne from Elsies River to Parow, then to Paarl and eventually they ended up at a petrol station in Worcester.
Here he tried to ask people for help, but nobody came to his aid. Pangkaeker said he and Tazne were wandering in the dark in Worcester when the same group of people offered them a lift in a bakkie.
At some point the bakkie stopped, and they carried Tazne out of the bakkie. He said he didn’t see what happened to her, but realised she was dead when he saw her head hanging as one of the men carried her. He said he didn’t tell anyone what happened to her, and chose to remain silent.
Pangkaeker has pleaded “not guilty” to all counts.
Today, the judge will reveal, based on his evaluation of the State’s evidence, whether Pangkaeker’s version was enough for him to be acquitted of the charges.
