Accused tells court Van Rooyen was ‘good woman’

A VISIBLY tired Reghard Groenewald told the Western Cape High Court that he had come off steroids two weeks prior to allegedly murdering Hilary van Rooyen.

He said he had never undergone post cycle therapy (PCT) which balances one’s hormones after a steroid cycle, which meant his estrogen and testosterone levels were unbalanced.

“The steroids make you short of temper, it’s not lekker. There are many symptoms. My strength was still up and my body heat was still up,” Groenewald told the court.

Groenewald is on trial for the murder of Van Rooyen on May 9 at her Eversdal home. She was found by her son lying in a pool of blood near the front door of the house. The accused was friends with the deceased’s son. He claims he struck her on the head two or three times with a vase after she made sexual advances towards him. Groenewald told the court it was not his intention to hurt Van Rooyen. All he wanted was to get her off him.

Groenewald described Van Rooyen as a good person, “like any of my friends’ mothers. I didn’t have any beef with her or other problems with her”. He said he had gone to say goodbye to the deceased before his trip abroad to teach English. He said Van Rooyen had asked him to come say goodbye at her son Luke’s farewell spit braai.

While at the deceased’s home, he said he did not feel uncomfortable and stayed to have coffee and a few cigarettes. He told the court that the conversation on that day was mostly about his trip and his girlfriend coming over once he had settled in, and they also spoke about how Luke was doing in London. Groenewald said upon leaving Van Rooyen’s house, he ran out of petrol and had driven about 150m. He then returned to Van Rooyen’s house to borrow R100 for petrol.

“I said ‘thank you, I will bring it back tomorrow’, and she said ‘no problem’.”

Feeling embarrassed, Groenewald told his girlfriend that Van Rooyen had asked him to come back the next day, May 9, to help her move boxes. He said he obtained the R100 from his parents on the night of May 8. After gym on May 9 he decided to go and return the money.

“When she opened the gate I gave her the R100 back. She invited me for coffee, I took the invitation because it’s the polite thing to do. We had a general conversation, and she brought the coffee to the braai area. While having the coffee we had normal interaction.”

After coffee, he got up from the braai area and proceeded to the kitchen to put his mug in the sink. “She followed me, she also put her cup into the sink, I started feeling uncomfortable here. She was leaning over me against the right-hand side of my back to put her cup into the sink.”

When the State questioned this again, however, Groenewald changed his evidence to say that he did not feel uncomfortable.

The trial continues next week.

She invited me for coffee, I took the invitation because it’s the polite thing to do

REGHARD GROENEWALD

Murder accused