Triple murder and six-time rape accused Johan Williams allegedly attempted to get rid of his victims’ personal belongings after they were seen in his presence, but never again.
On Monday the court heard, through witness evidence, how Williams allegedly threw the necklace of Chantelle Matthyssen – one of three murder victims – onto a roof of one of the homes where he had lived.
Matthyssen’s mother, Carol Petersen, wrapped up her evidence to the court when she was re-examined by the State, following cross-examination.
Petersen was asked about a submission made to the court that her daughter and Williams allegedly had sexual relations, but Petersen denied this. “She always called him uncle with great respect,” said Petersen, who added that Matthyssen and Williams never chatted via cellphone as he never had her number and she never had his contact details.
Petersen again told the court she became suspicious of her daughter’s whereabouts when she saw Matthyssen’s choice of words and vocabulary over WhatsApp texts after she had arrived in Wellington, where Williams promised to get her a job.
According to Petersen, messages between her and her daughter were riddled with grammatical mistakes that Matthyssen would not normally make, and she described this as “very confusing”.
Three other State witnesses – Gertwin Goodman, She-Earl Goodman and Betty Goodman – took the stand on Monday. The three living at one property in separate structures – married couple Gertwin and She-Earl, and Gertwin’s mother Betty – told the court of how Williams had brought two of his alleged victims to their property, two weeks apart.
According to Gertwin, he had seen Williams arrive with Matthyssen, who had a tog bag while Williams pulled her red trolley travelling case.
“I was not introduced to the unidentified woman when they arrived late on the Saturday afternoon. They had gone straight to his Wendy house on the property and I never saw her again,” said Gertwin.
Gertwin said days later Williams approached him with a Blackberry and said he wanted to sell it. Gertwin said he saw a picture of Matthyssen was a screen saver on the cellphone.
The next day, Gertwin said Williams removed a necklace from his pants pocket. It had the name “Chantelle” on it and he threw it on the roof of one of the homes in th yard, saying he needed to “get rid” of it before his girlfriend came home.
Two weeks before Matthyssen arrived with Williams, the witnesses recalled Williams arrived with murder victim Maria Isaacs on June 16, 2018, having introduced her as his cousin who he was to arrange a job for.
Betty told the court that after she met Isaacs, she never saw the woman again. Williams told Betty that Isaacs’s family, who lived in Wellington, “fetched her”.
According to She-Earl, after Isaacs was not seen again, Williams had given her a Tempo watch for “encouraging and comforting him” when Williams and his girlfriend were going through a rough patch. The watch was believed to have belonged to Isaacs. Williams faces 20 charges – three counts of murder, six of rape, six of kidnapping, one of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, two of attempted rape, a count of failure to comply with a protection order and housebreaking with intent to commit arson.
The matter continues.
Cape Times