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R/£ Ganchi accused confessed to killing - doctor
Jones did not look distressed, terrified or shocked during examinationFebruary 14, 2007 Edition 1
Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
A day after he was arrested, Ronald Jones confessed to a district surgeon that he had raped and brutally killed 6-year-old Michaela Garoenisha Ganchi two months earlier.
When Jones volunteered this information to Dr Thamsanqa Bomvana he appeared calm and did not look distressed, terrified or shocked.
Bomvana was giving evidence in the Johannesburg High Court yesterday during a trial-within-a-trial.
Jones (28) of Eldorado Park has denied kidnapping, indecently assaulting, raping and murdering Michaela on October 6 2005.
Jones is alleged to have asked Michaela to buy him cigarettes, before taking her to a open field.
Michaela's body was found a day after she went missing just a few metres from her parents' home.
Jones has claimed that he was assaulted by the police to confess to the crime and was made to point out the scene.
This has been disputed by state counsel advocate Paul Nel who called police officers to testify to the effect that Jones had made the confession freely and voluntarily.
Bomvama - who works at the Nthuseng Thuthuzela Care Centre in Soweto - is a district medical officer and part of his job involves examining rape survivors as well as suspects.
On December 7 2005, police brought Jones to his consultation rooms so that Bomvama could examine him and draw blood samples for DNA analysis.
"My observation was that he was a healthy, well-built male.
"He said he knew why he was there, namely, that he had raped and killed a victim that had been found in the veld. I did make a note in the form to that effect," Bomvana said.
"If the accused were to say that he did not tell you that he had raped and murdered the deceased, what would you say?" asked Nel.
"I did not suck this from my thumb. At the time he came (to see me) I did not know him. There wouldn't be any reason why I should make a false entry (into the forms) and ascribe things he did not say," Bomvana responded.
Bomvana had noted that Jones had another abrasion on the right shoulder.
"Clinically, they could not have been sustained the previous day (when Jones was arrested). The other injuries I noted were around the wrists (which were accompanied) with associated swelling.
"This I ascribed to have been caused by handcuffs," said Bomvana.
The doctor noted tattoos on either side of the accused's shoulders with the inscriptions: "Thug Life" and "Outlaw".
Cross-examined by defence counsel advocate Mpho Melubi, Bomvana maintained that Jones had volunteered information about his involvement in Michaela's rape and murder.
Bomvana said he examined many people and some of the suspects would tell him that they had been framed, but Jones had readily and categorically admitted committing the offences without being pressurised.
The state is set to call arresting officer Inspector Abraham Grobbelaar tomorrow, before it closes its case in the trial-within-a-trial.
It will then be the accused's turn to give evidence in his defence, before the court makes a ruling as to whether the confession is admissible as evidence.
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