The murder trial of Vicki Terblanche is set to continue in the Gqeberha High Court on Friday, where the state will call its next witness.
State Advocate Marius Stander told the court that he would only call six more witnesses and that some had to be flown in from out of town.
When the trial commenced in January, Stander said that he would be calling Mario de Ridder Junior to the stand, a 204 state witness, who was the third person present in the house when Vicki was murdered.
Dylan Cullis, who took a plea deal with the state, testified this week how he became friends, first with De Ridder and later with Leach, stating that he was a drug addict who hung out with them to get his next fix.
He did, however, testify that once Leach obtained a gun to kill Vicki, he became concerned. Still, he figured they were all just high; later, when Leach confessed that he could not shoot Vicki, it was De Ridder who suggested a drug overdose to get Vicki to choke on her vomit.
Cullis described how he tried to save Vicki, stating that he was afraid of Leach because he had a gun and was involved in the abalone industry.
Under cross-examination, Leach's defence, Advocate Jodene Coertzen, wanted to know more about the gun they had obtained on the day of Vicki’s murder.
Cullis, who has a competency certificate and said he knows guns, testified that Leach obtained a small calibre silver pistol; he was 100% positive.
Leach, however, claims it was a revolver. When they arrived back at Vicki’s house, Cullis said Leach took the gun out of the car and took it into the house with him; Leach’s version is that he left the gun in the car because, on his version, the revolver had no safety guard and he deemed it as dangerous. Throughout his testimony, when asked by Coertzen why he did not do more to save the deceased as he claims he wanted to, he said he was afraid of Leach since he knew he had a gun.
Advocate Coertzen then wanted to discuss in more detail Vicki's state and how he managed to get her to the spare room, most importantly asking him why he did it, to which he replied that he did not want Vicki to die.
The court heard from Cullis this week that Vicki was not feeling well as she had a hangover from partying the night before.
She snorted some CAT and smoked Tik to give her a high, but it did not have the same effect on her as she had not rested.
Cullis said she also took two Percocet tablets before eventually going to bed, soon to be followed by Leach, who had crushed the other tablets into a fizzy drink.
Coertzen said with all the drugs in Vicki’s system; she would have been unable to help herself and almost be unconscious, to which Cullis agreed.
Leach, who is currently on trial for her murder, insists that it was Cullis who killed his then-girlfriend, but Cullis told the court that the accused was a liar.
In January, the trials were separated, and Vicki's estranged husband, Arnold Terblanche, will go on trial in October this year.
He is facing six charges, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, defeating the ends of justice, conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice and conspiracy to commit murder.
It is the state's case that Terblanche and other persons unknown to the state conspired to have Leach, Cullis, and Mario de Ridder Jnr killed.
Arnold Terblanche has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
Follow the Algoa FM News Exclusive Podcast, Journey to Justice, to catch up on this case.
