Cape Town - Acting Judge Alan Maher was only able to get through half of his verdict on Monday and Mohydian Pangkaeker, accused of the rape, kidnap and murder of 8-year-old Tazne van Wyk, has to wait another day to find out if he will be found guilty.
Pangkaeker, 57, was charged with 27 counts, including the disappearance and murder of little Tazne, as well as with abusing members of his own family between 2016 and 2019, after he reunited with his ex-wife.
In the Western Cape High Court on Monday, Acting Judge Maher said that 37 witnesses had testified for the State, with five choosing to testify with an intermediary, while Pangkaeker’s was the only testimony the defence relied on.
Judge Maher gave the court insights into the testimony of minor witnesses who testified in-camera, showing how most of the assaults Pangkaeker is accused of were inflicted against his own family who either failed to report him or withdrew charges later, without there being any consequences for his alleged actions at the time.
Pangkaeker had uprooted his ex-wife and her family from their lives in Hanover Park and moved to Ladismith where most of his alleged abusive exploits took place.
Judge Maher said according to the testimony of the minor witnesses, Pangkaeker physically abused the children of his ex-wife after he forced them to call him “daddy”.
He had instilled fear in the children who testified that they were “scared” of Pangkaeker because he would beat them with a belt on a daily basis. They said they were not allowed to play outside, were only fed one meal a day, were not allowed to speak to other people or make friends and would receive a beating if they played outside.
His estranged daughter, who didn’t know Pangkaeker for most of her life had testified about an occasion where he assaulted her while she was in a wheelchair, striking her as she tried to crawl away.
Maher recounted the testimony of another child witness who testified that Pangkaeker threatened to kill her if she spoke out. She testified that the 57-year-old had raped her on multiple occasions but she never told anyone because he threatened to kill her. She said when she eventually told her mother about the first time it happened, her mother dismissed the allegation and didn’t believe her.
It is alleged that Pangkaeker took the girl to a specific bush where he forced her to take off her clothes and had sex with her without her consent.
In ritualistic fashion, she said he would always use a specific peach and black scarf to wipe himself when he was done. He did this on at least three occasions, according to her testimony. The girl spoke out after she saw Pangkaeker on TV in 2020 in relation to the disappearance of Tazne.
During the trial, State advocate Lenro Badenhorst tried to prove Pangkaeker displayed the traits of a “child molester”.
When Pangkaeker took the stand, stuttering through his testimony, he denied that he had committed the various offences against his own family.
He said when Tazne went missing, she came with him out of her own volition and that he too had been kidnapped by four foreigners who drove him and Tazne to Worcester.
He said he tried to save the little girl but that his hands were tied behind his back while he lay helpless at the back of the bakkie. He said he didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened to Tazne for fear that he would be implicated.