It’s going to be another emotional day in court for friends and family of Gill Packham, the woman found murdered back in February.

Her husband, Rob [pictured above], will appear in court today on charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice, with Gill’s body having been found in the boot of a burnt car at Diep River train station.

Packham’s last court appearance was in May, and he has been out on bail of R50 000, and under house arrest, since March.

Here’s News24 with the latest on where the case stands:

At Packham’s previous court appearance, prosecutor Brynmor Benjamin said that investigators needed to obtain tyre imprints from the accused’s motor vehicle.

Packham’s lawyer Ben Mathewson told the court that his client was willing to cooperate with the police and would surrender his vehicle as soon as a date was set.

Mathewson notified the court of his intention to make a formal application to amend the accused’s bail conditions, which prevent him from communicating with witnesses, including his sister.

“[They] should be amended to read that the accused may not communicate with his sister on the merits of the case,” Mathewson said.

The matter was previously postponed by Magistrate Goolam Bawa for further investigations and to await the post-mortem report and DNA analysis results from blood found in his house.

It remains to be seen whether or not those results are available in full for the State to present, but it wouldn’t be the only evidence that they will use to try and secure a conviction:

Benjamin previously told the court that the accused had contacted a colleague to arrange an alibi and that he allegedly told the person to claim that they had been in a meeting at 08:30, when he was meant to be at work.

His cellphone records, however, indicated that he had been in Constantia or Diep River at the time, Benjamin said.

According to the State, Gill [with Rob, above] was formally reported missing at 21:00. At 21:30, her car was found burning in the parking lot at the Diep River train station.

Benjamin told the court that Packham was the last person to have been with the deceased.

On that day security cameras allegedly captured someone driving a car similar to Gill’s, which did not have any registration plates.

Previous reports have stated that blood was allegedly found in Rob Packham’s car, in the garage of the couple’s home, and the bathroom.

You would have to say that the evidence points overwhelmingly towards one conclusion, but I guess we now wait for justice to run its course.

[source:news24]