No escape for Bonnie and Clyde

17 August 2015 - 02:01 By Aarti J Narsee

Not even the evidence of renowned forensic scientist David Klatzow could save Cape Town's Bonnie and Clyde from being convicted of murdering their drug dealer. Last week, Bridget and Craig Smeddle were found guilty by the regional court in Cape Town, for garrotting and stabbing their drug dealer Edwin Obiano, from Observatory, on July 19, 2011. The pair claim that they acted in self-defence.But their time in the dock is far from over as they are also on trial for murdering Table View resident Robert Simmonds and defeating the ends of justice when they allegedly interfered with a witness. Bridget cleaned Simmonds flat a few times a week.The couple, with a history of heavy Heroin use, told the court that the attack occurred when they tried to lure him to their house so that they could steal their passports back. They claim he was holding them as collateral for the money they owed him. They had dreams of immigrating to the UK because Bridget was five months pregnant at the time and they wished to have the baby overseas.But Magistrate Victor Gibson said it was "difficult to harmonise" the couple's versions of events.Rather, evidence given by the Smeddles' neighbours worked against the them. The neighbours testified that when they asked Bridget if everything was ok, she responded calmly, trying to fob them off from calling the police as they had heard the commotion.The court found that both weapons, the knife and garrotte, were thrown or placed on the scene by someone after the fact.Forensic expert Dr Klatzow, who testified for the defence, performed an experiment on a dead pig to show that the garrotte could not have been responsible for the injuries sustained by the dealer.But the court found his evidence to have "little value" because this experiment which was performed in a lab could not be equivalent to a "man fighting for his life". The court added that while thereare similarities between the anatomy of pigs and humans, there are also many differences.Gibson added that it was "blatantly obvious" that the couple " knowingly and intentionally participated in a sustained, savage and unilateral and deliberate physical attack on the deceased."Sentencing is set to take place in October...

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