Murdered Johannesburg chef's bones found after 13 years

A forensic analyst has confirmed that human bones found 13 years after Betty Ketani went missing belong to the former Johannesburg chef.

On Friday, bones expert Captain Teunis Briers was testifying in the high court in Johannesburg in the murder trial of Carrington Laughton and brothers David and Carel Ranger.

Ketani, who is originally from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, worked as a chef at Cranks restaurant in Rosebank, Johannesburg. She disappeared in May 1999.

Thirteen years after her mysterious disappearance, her bones were discovered in a shallow grave at a Kenilworth, Johannesburg house rented by Conway Brown, who was arrested in connection with her murder. He, together with Paul Nielse and Dirk Reinecke, has since turned state witness.

Briers said that the six bones were identified as belonging to Ketani after a comparison with DNA taken from her children.

Briers told the court that three of the bones were analysed in South Africa and the other three abroad.

Forensic anthropologist and archaeologist from the National Prosecuting Authority, Claudia Bisso, testified that she had been at the scene when the bones were exhumed and excavated in June 2012.

Bisso, who has over 20 years’ of experience, said she had confirmed at the scene that the bones were human.

On Thursday Laughton’s ex-wife Jayne Laughton told the court that the signature on a typed letter confessing to the crime belonged to her former husband. The letter was found under a carpet in Brown’s house in 2012.

Laughton, through his advocate Laurence Hodes, denied the signature belonged to him. He has reportedly claimed he was being framed for the murder.