Hannah Cornelius was only 21 years old when her life was cut short in the most terrible manner conceivable. The brilliant South African university student was killed in an assault in Stellenbosch, South Africa, when she and a companion were carjacked by four males. Vernon Witbooi, 33, Geraldo Parsons, 27, Nashville Julius, 29, and Eben Van Nieberk, 28, have been charged with her murder, abduction, robbery, and rape.
Hannah and her male companion, Cheslin Marsh, 22, were abducted after she gave him a ride home at midnight one night. Hannah was parking her blue Volkswagen Golf, a present from her grandmother, outside Marsh’s house when they were accosted by a group of four males, who opened both vehicles doors. They then threatened to murder Marsh with a screwdriver in his chest and a knife in his back.
One of the gang members reportedly ordered Marsh, “Sit still or she dies.” He was robbed of his cash and phone before being confined in the boot of the vehicle. When Hannah was trapped between two of the four guys in the back seat of the Volkswagen, the group went to a drug dealer’s residence to buy narcotics and inhale crystal meth.
They ultimately came to a halt and drove Marsh into the woods. They forced him to rest his head on a rock on the ground and pounded his skull with bricks. The gang’s savage attack ended only after they were confident he was dead. He was able to survive, but Hannah would not be so fortunate as the group set their sights on her.
The young student was taken from her vehicle, and at least three of the guys gangraped her in what the court described as a “very traumatic” incident. Her autopsy indicated that the prolonged assault caused significant vaginal and cervical damage.
After they were through torturing Hannah, the monsters pined her down and smashed her skull with a two-foot, 82-pound rock before stabbing her in the neck. The heavy rock was struck twice on Hannah Cornelius’s skull, bludgeoning her to death, the court heard as the murder weapon was shown.
Hannah was killed instantaneously when the boulder broke her head. To ensure she didn’t survive, one of her assassins stabbed her in the neck with a dagger. They then dumped her corpse in the mud with her trousers down.
Two strong security guards, struggled to lift the chilling exhibit onto a desk in the courtroom at the Western High Court in Cape Town, as “loud gasps” of shock and fear arose from members of the public gallery who were disgusted by the size of the alleged murder weapon. Several gang members are said to have lifted the massive rock and dropped it on Hannah’s head.
The skull is constructed of incredibly strong bones. It is not simple to shatter or fracture a skull unless a lot of force is utilised to really break the skull, Dr. Deidre Abraham, the forensic pathologist who performed Hannah’s autopsy, noted. The blunt force wounds to her skull proved deadly very quickly.
Witbooi, Julius, and Van Nieberk, three of the accused, acknowledge being there but say they just robbed the couple and did not perform the rape or murder. The perpetrators were apprehended after going on a robbery spree in the seized automobile while high on drugs, stealing at least three ladies and reportedly killing Hannah before the stolen car was detected and a high-speed police pursuit ensued.
Although Parson has a horrible tattoo of a nude headless girl with her legs wide out, both he and Witbooi have prison tattoos with the number 28, which according to investigating officer Sergeant Marlon Appolis is significant.
While in jail, the number 28 purportedly transmits their status as “wife” to others. “The 28’s grab males from behind,” Appolis plainly said. The guys accused of killing Hannah were observed placing their hands over their open mouths when Appolis made his statements about their tattoos in court.
Hannah Cornelius was a straight A student in her second year at Stellenbosch University and the daughter of magistrate Willem Cornelius. She had a bright future ahead of her, but it was cut short when these horrible creatures attacked and killed her.
Unfortunately, crime statistics show that there are lots of terrible people like them in South Africa, where 45 carjackings occur every day, 56 people are killed, and 110 are raped. Maybe it’s time to reinstate the death penalty, which was abolished in 1995, since incarceration doesn’t appear to bother monsters like these.
