Cape Town - The trial of David van Boven, 33, and Tasliem Ambrose, 39, continued in the Western Cape High Court on Monday where an expert gave evidence on the DNA found at the scene.
The men are accused of killing Jesse Hess, 18, and her grandfather Chris Lategan, 85, who were found dead in their Parow flat on August 30, 2019.
DNA expert Blanche November was in court to interpret evidence from the scene. She said DNA samples are collected for testing and for comparisons to be made against items at the scene in line with the charges against the accused.
November said according to the samples that were tested, there was no DNA result that positively linked either Van Boven or Ambrose to any items that were analysed. This excludes samples taken from the car and shoe of Van Boven which form part of the exhibits.
She said tests conducted on the samples lifted from the body of Hess showed there was “not enough male DNA” found. She said that although male DNA was present, there was not enough to make a comparison with a DNA profile.
“The result, ‘not enough male DNA’ means that at presumptive level, these exhibits test positive for presumptive testing but when they are subjected to DNA analysis we found that there wasn’t enough male DNA for us to make a comparison. And that these exhibits contained mostly female DNA,” November said.
She said that after tests were conducted Lategan’s DNA was found on a vest, belt, top and cloth that were collected at the scene.
She added that while she doesn’t do the analysis herself, she is tasked with interpreting results from the tests and comparisons made to samples collected from the crime scene.
The two men have been charged with six counts of murder, rape, fraud or theft and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
They allegedly assaulted Hess and Lategan by inflicting serious bodily harm and stole: rings, a bank card, a laptop, two mobile phones and two TV sets. It is alleged that they murdered Hess and Lategan by means of strangling them.