Chanel du Toit was so desperate to stay alive that she clawed at her own face, the Paarl Regional Court heard.
|||Cape Town - Chanel du Toit was so desperate to stay alive and fight off the person who was strangling her that she clawed at her own face, the Paarl Regional Court has heard.
Her husband, Johan du Toit, with whom she shared a hilltop cottage on the Dieu Donne wine estate, has pleaded not guilty to murder.
In June, forensic pathologist Dr Deidre Abrahams told the court she had performed the autopsy on Chanel du Toit, 28, on July 8, 2010, a day after her body had been found in the cottage.
She said that Chanel had been strangled.
She also found evidence that pressure had been applied to her mouth and nose, blocking her air passage.
On Tuesday, she testified that Chanel appeared to have desperately clawed at the hands of her assailant, to rip away the hand that was suffocating her.
She had scratched and cut her own face with her fingernails, which bore her blood.
Abrahams said these self-inflicted injuries were “fresh”, sustained less than 24 hours before her death, and thus consistent with her final moments as she tried to defend herself in her life-or-death struggle.
It was likely that her assailant had been scratched too, she said.
In the police docket are photographs taken by police of Du Toit showing two facial wounds - including a “3mmx3cm” scratch - seen when police arrested him soon after his wife’s body was discovered.
He also had a cut on his finger.
William Booth is appearing for Du Toit.
He is aided by forensic scientist David Klatzow.
The matter was postponed until May 27.
Du Toit remains on bail.
Cape Argus