Cape Town - The abusiveabusive nature of Phillip April’s relationship with Allison Plaatjies was detailed in court as another witness testified that the teacher was “belittled” before she was killed.
April is charged with two counts of murder and theft after he partially decapitated Plaatjies inside her home on October 26, 2019 and fled the scene in her car. The State yesterday closed its case after several witnesses testified about the events that led up to her slaughter, trying to prove the murder was premeditated.
Merelizia Booysen, 27, an arts and culture coach at Sederberg Primary School – where Plaatjies taught – said as soon as she heard of the teacher’s death, the first thing that came to her mind was April.
“So much went through my mind at that time, I just said, ‘it’s Phillip’ nothing else. It just came to my mind that it was him because of the way he was treating her, I couldn’t think anything else,” Booysen said.
She testified that she and Plaatjies were supposed to judge a modelling show on October 26, 2019.
But when Plaatjies didn’t answer her phone, she found it strange because it was not like her. She noted certain mannerisms that Plaatjies displayed to her before she was killed..
She testified that she noticed Plaatjies had bruises on her arms and suspected April to be the cause.
“One day she had on this top, then me and my other colleague asked her what marks are that. So she said it was just marks (from) walking into the cupboard. I said to her ‘you’re lying to me’ and she just laughed it off. After that, a week later, she had a blue mark on the other arm,” Booysen said.
She testified that Plaatjies never told her what the cause was, but that she suspected it was April after Plaatjies told her about another incident where April apparently hurled a glass at her.
On a different occasion, she said: “She just came out of the blue, we were sitting and eating food, and she jumped up and said ‘guys, Phillip said he is going to kill me’.” Booysen said.
Booysen broke down in tears when State advocate Renee Uys asked her what kind of person Plaatjies was.
She said: “She was a very friendly person. She had a good personality, she would always help where she could and she always made my day with the smile on her face.”