It’s been an incredibly emotional week for the friends and family of Hannah Cornelius, with the murder trial starting in the Western Cape High Court.

After the court had heard the lengthy video confession from Vernon Witbooi, recorded the day after Cornelius was murdered, it was Cheslin Marsh’s chance to testify.

Marsh was in the car with Cornelius when they were kidnapped, and his testimony was an emotional rollercoaster, with the four murder-accused watching on.

To start, here’s the video Times LIVE put together, showing the footage of the moment Cornelius and Marsh were kidnapped:

Marsh’s testimony, and timeline of events, makes for difficult reading:

After allegedly robbing and hijacking them‚ Vernon Witbooi‚ Geraldo Parsons and Eben van Niekerk put Marsh in the boot of Cornelius’s blue VW CitiGolf.

The two Stellenbosch University students were then driven to Kraaifontein where the suspects bought tik. They drove off again before eventually stopping and opened the boot of the car.

Two people then took Marsh’s cellphone from him and demanded his pin code. Video footage played in court showed Witbooi attempting to draw money at an Absa ATM at a Caltex garage in Bottelary Road.

The men [below] drove off again and next time they stopped one of the men got out and hit the car boot‚ demanding to know why Marsh had given them the wrong pin.

They then drove off again and turned into a gravel road. There they took Marsh out to some bushes and laid his head on a rock. They told him he had given them the wrong pin code.

“I lay down on the ground and put my head on a rock. I closed my eyes and I prayed‚” Marsh said on Thursday‚ struggling to retain his composure.

“The two men were standing with a half-brick in their hands. I then lost consciousness.”

When he woke up it was morning and he was in “horrible pain‚ everywhere pain”‚ he told the court. Bloodied‚ shocked‚ and bruised he tried to look for help in the Kraaifontein area and was chased by a dog. Eventually‚ residents called the police.

Marsh [below] was taken to the Kraaifontein day hospital and treated for head wounds and a broken arm. After weeks in Tygerberg and Paarl hospitals he was eventually declared permanently deaf in his left ear.

This video, filmed from inside the court, gives you some sense of the emotion on show:

Cheslin Marsh was robbed, kidnapped and then severely beaten allegedly by men appearing in the Western Cape high court for the murder of Hannah Cornelius. Marsh and Cornelius were attacked in the early hours of May 27 2017 in Stellenbosch. @AJGMolyneaux #HannahCornelius pic.twitter.com/hIJPWHriK9

— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) October 11, 2018

We have left out the most graphic details, including Witbooi’s account of Cornelius’ final hours alive, which Times LIVE covered earlier in the week.

The trial will begin again on Monday, October 15.

[source:timeslive]