Not looking good for Pangaker: Judge unpacks klomp evidence against Tazne’s murder and rape accused

The mountain of evidence presented by the State against alleged child killer Mohydian Pangaker for the murder of Tazne van Wyk has countered his claims that she was killed by unknown kidnappers.

This was revealed on Tuesday at the Western Cape High Court as Judge Alan Maher entered day two of his lengthy judgement which summarised the vast number of witnesses, experts and medical evidence showing how Tazne had been abducted, raped, killed and her hand cut off on the day she disappeared.

The Grade 3 pupil from Eurecon Primary went missing on February 7, 2020, when she was snatched just metres from her home in Clare Street, Ravensmead.

Hundreds of mense helped search for the child, who had gone missing without a trace.

Pangaker’s relatives told police that he had also disappeared and cops went on the hunt for him.

He was later arrested in Cradock in the Eastern Cape after his ex-wife helped officers lay a trap for him.

While on his way back to Cape Town, he told cops where to find Tazne’s body.

Tears of disbelief flowed when it was revealed that the eight-year-old meisie was found dumped in a stormwater drain in Worcester.

While testifying, Pangaker claimed that he was kidnapped by a group of foreigners while walking to the mosque for prayers.

In an elaborate explanation, he claimed Tazne “appeared out of nowhere” and offered to show the foreigners the location of an informal settlement where they went to buy drugs.

He claimed that after they were dumped on the side of the road near Worcester, the same group returned and kidnapped him and Tazne for a second time.

He said they tied him up while they killed Tazne and dumped her body.

But Maher said two witnesses had come forward and told the court that on the day of her disappearance, they were with Pangaker and Tazne as he took the child to Parow train station.

Maher said further evidence obtained from Bergsig Motors showed Mohydian walking with Tazne out of a petrol station that night towards the N1 highway, where her body was later found, and she was identified by her father Terence during his testimony.

During the trial, three other people testified that they saw Pangaker with Tazne in Worcester and in Ravensmead before he boarded a taxi.

Maher highlighted that Tazne’s body was too decayed to obtain any DNA from her pelvic area and initially doctors could not even ascertain the gender of the corpse.

However, anthropology expert Jacqui Friedling testified that Tazne’s pelvic bones revealed that she had been sexually penetrated.

Maher said: “She testified that for the cartilage to give way and the bones to become misaligned, there must have been an object or an act of sexual nature with a lot of force.

“She said the individual could have possibly been alive or have possibly passed away, if still alive the individual would have been in extreme pain.”

Sitting in the dock, Pangaker appeared min gespin about the mountain of evidence against him, as he smiled and waved at his twin sister Nazley in the public gallery.

Maher also highlighted testimony from Nazley, who claimed that she did not know her brother had fathered a child with his own daughter.

The judgement continues.

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