Cape Town - Jeremy Sias was on Thursday acquitted of the murder of Meghan Cremer in the Western Cape High Court after he confessed to dumping her body but not killing her.
Judge Elizabeth Baartman, in delivering judgment, said the State had failed to meet the burden of proof “to sustain a finding that the accused caused the deceased’s (Cremer’s) death”.
The 30-year-old farmworker and father of four was charged with four counts including murder, aggravated robbery, defeating the ends of justice and theft.
The judge found him guilty of theft for stealing her car, taking her cellphones, using her bank card to withdraw cash and trying to get rid of evidence. He was, however, found “not guilty” of killing the horse-riding enthusiast.
Cremer’s killing made headlines in 2019, when the 29-year-old bakery manager went missing from the Vaderlandsche Rietvlei farm.
Cremer was a tenant on the farm where she rented a cottage and lived there with her puppy.
At the time, gender-based violence activists caused an uproar over the prevalence of women being killed on a daily basis.
Her body was found on August 8, 2019 in Olieboom Road in Philippi after five days of a relentless search by authorities and her mother, Gillian Cremer, who was not seen in the court yesterday.
From the outset, Sias admitted he had dumped her body but denied murdering her.
Video footage evidence played in court showed Sias leading police to her body, under a thicket of branches – her neck, hands and feet were tied up with blue ribbon.
The footage shows Sias breaking down in tears, saying “it wasn’t intentional” as he holds on to a police officer for comfort.
The State’s case, presented by advocate Emily van Wyk, was based on circumstantial evidence but it was not enough to secure a conviction for murder.
Towards the end of the defence’s case, shocking testimony by Linda Mohr – Cremer’s landlady and State witness-turned-defence witness – led to questions being asked about how police conduct investigations, as the 29-year-old’s alleged drug use came to light.
“It is important to bear in mind that the deceased is not on trial, the only relevance her apparent substance abuse has is that the police should have investigated whether there was any connection between her death and the murky drug world,” Baartman said.
Further doubt was cast on the incompetence of investigating officers by the neglect of video material belonging to the Mohrs not being used during the trial.
In her evaluation of the evidence presented by the State, Judge Baartman said: “It is not the duty of law enforcement officers to withhold evidence from the court that in their opinion might assist an accused. In doing so, they have probably inadvertently advanced the accused’s cause, instead of the cause of justice.”
The judge further reiterated that “petty racism” was displayed at the Philippi police station when Thomas Mbalula asserted that Cremer’s disappearance was the “unfortunate reality” that people of colour faced when trying to file an urgent missing person’s report. Sentencing proceedings will start on March 14.