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“The accused has shown himself to be an accomplished liar and deceiver who deceived his wife and to an extent his paramour, as well as his family.”

When the judge handing down your verdict says those words above, you must know your goose is cooked, although Western Cape High Court Judge Elize Steyn had already made it clear that she wasn’t a fan of Rob Packham.

Yesterday, Steyn found Packham guilty of murdering his wife Gill, and then subsequently burning her body in the boot of her vehicle, in February of last year.

Via TimesLIVE, here’s the moment the verdict was handed down:

The State has already clearly laid out its case (this video is a great explainer), and the verdict didn’t come as a great surprise to many.

Gill Packham’s sisters, according to IOL, are relieved that justice has finally been served:

In a Facebook post by Helen and Sue Humphrey – sisters of Gill – they say justice has finally been served for their sibling.

“For the past 15 months we have been dealing with the brutal murder of our sister Gillian Packham (née Humphrey) and the subsequent revelations of the tragic and painful circumstances she was subjected to in the years and months leading up her murder by Rob Packham,” the post read.

The grieving sisters said they “became aware of some of these details in the last few months of her life, (and) the conspiracy of silence surrounding Gill meant that we have only learnt the full extent of what was taking place in the Packham family through this trial”.

“(Yesterday’s) outcome by Judge Steyn allows us to acknowledge that justice has occurred for our sister. The fact that justice has been done does not take away the fact that girls lost their mother and we lost a beautiful sister,” said the Humphrey sisters.

Packham will return to court today for sentencing, and his defence team will be entitled to launch an appeal once that has been handed down.

[sources:timeslive&iol]