Murder Weapon Used in Killing Raped South African Student Shown in Court

A massive 82lb rock used to smash in the skull of a university student after she was kidnapped and brutally gang-raped has been presented in court.

The two-foot by one-foot by one-foot boulder had been used to cover a borehole and was slammed down on Hannah Cornelius's head twice as she was held down, a court was told.

The fatal blow was delivered after at least three men had taken turns to rape the gifted scholar.

Hannah, 21, would almost certainly have died instantly according to experts but to make sure one of her killers also plunged a knife into her neck.

Vernon Witbooi, 33, Geraldo Parsons, 27, Nashville Julius, 29, and Eben Van Nieberk, 28, face charges including murder, kidnap, robbery and rape.

The chilling exhibit was lifted with a struggle onto a desk before the judge at the Western High Court in Cape Town, South Africa, by two strong security guards.

There were loud gasps of shock and horror from the public gallery as the alleged weapon used to murder the BA humanities student was produced in the court room.

It was said that magistrate's daughter Hannah and a friend Cheslin Marsh, 22, were kidnapped after she gave him a lift home in May last year at midnight.

She had parked her blue VW Golf – a gift from her grandmother - outside his flat but as they parked a gang of four men attacked them opening both doors.

They put a screwdriver to her chest through and opened the passenger door and put a knife to the back of fellow student Mr Marsh and threatened to kill him.

                                                      The victim, Hannah Cornelius, 21

The court heard one of the gang shouted at him: 'Sit still or she dies'.

Mr Marsh was robbed of cash and his phone and locked in the car boot and then the gang drove to a drug dealers home to buy drugs and smoked crystal meth.

Hannah was wedged between two of the four men in the back seat of the VW and the gang drove out of the upmarket wine producing town of Stellenbosch.

They pulled over and took Mr Marsh into the bushes and made him lay his head on a rock on the ground and then battered his skull with house bricks.

Ms Cornelius was dragged from her car and raped by at least three of the men, before they stabbed her in the neck and crushed her skull with a large rock

Ms Cornelius was dragged from her car and raped by at least three of the men, before they stabbed her in the neck and crushed her skull with a large rock

Ms Cornelius was dragged from her car and raped by at least three of the men, before they stabbed her in the neck and crushed her skull with a large rock

Parson's tattoo's included crossed swords, a gun, a grotesque sketch of a naked headless female with legs spread open and shoulder stars showing his rank, the court heard.

A still from CCTV footage of Ms Cornelius and Mr Marsh who were chatting in a blue Volkswagen Citi Golf (pictured right during the subsequent police chase of the killers) when they were approached by four men.

 Accused (left-right) Vernon Witbooi,33, Geraldo Parsons,27, Nashville Julius,29 and Eben Van Nieberk,28 in court

The brutal assault only stopped when the gang were convinced that he was dead.

That afternoon Marsh recovered consciousness and staggered to a nearby home suffering severe head injuries and a broken arm to raise the alarm about Hannah.

Unknown to him her body had been found earlier several miles away dumped by the road and a huge police search was already underway for him and the gang.

She had been dragged into bushes at a vineyard and gang raped by at least three of the men in what was described in court as an 'extremely painful' ordeal.

Hannah suffered severe vaginal and cervical injuries in the prolonged attack.

When it was over it is alleged that the gang then found the large boulder covering a water borehole nearby and manhandled it across to where she was laying.

Heavy bruising on her arms show she had been held down and it is believed that probably several of the gang lifted the huge rock and dropped it on her head.

Three men made Mr Marsh (pictured after the attack) put his head on a rock then battered his skull with house bricks until they thought he was dead

Forensic pathologist Dr Deidre Abraham who carried out the autopsy on Hannah confirmed that her murderers dealt the fatal blows by dropping the rock twice.

She said: 'The skull is made up of very strong bones indeed. It is not easy for a skull to break or crack unless a lot of power is used to actually break the skull.

'The blunt force injuries to her head were very rapidly fatal' she said.