Anele Tembe Inquest Hears No Clear Signs Of Strangulation

Anele Tembe’s neck injuries did not give a pathologist clear proof that she had been strangled before her fatal fall, the expert told the inquest into the death of AKA‘s fiancee.

The evidence addressed a key question in the Cape Town case: whether marks on Tembe’s body showed that someone had hurt her before she went over the hotel balcony. The prosecutor asked the expert if she could tell those wounds apart from injuries caused by the fall.

Tembe, 22, died after falling from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel on April 11, 2021. She had been staying there with AKA. The inquest is examining what happened and whether the evidence points to anyone being responsible.

The pathologist described two areas of bleeding around Tembe’s neck during testimony on Tuesday. She said friction, pressure or suction could account for the marks, but she could not pin down a cause, Daily Maverick reported.

“I cannot unequivocally say what those wounds were caused by,” she told the court.

She explained that wounds caused just before death could look the same as those suffered in the fall. She also raised the possibility that some injuries happened as Tembe fell. Tree branches and leaves found on her body and in her hair supported possible contact with a tree during the descent.

The expert explained that a neck exam looks for signs of pressure, including bruises that could match fingertips and bleeding in the neck muscles. It did not reveal fractures in the small bone beneath the jaw or the neck cartilage, TimesLIVE reported. The expert said it had not established clear evidence of strangulation. The cause of the marks remained unclear. Her evidence was not a ruling that an assault had, or had not, taken place, and did not establish how Tembe came to fall.

The distinction matters after earlier testimony about fresh scratches and bruises on AKA. A doctor who examined him after Tembe’s death described marks on his arm, leg, knee and neck, but said he could not get a clear account of how they happened.

AKA’s father, Tony Forbes, had also challenged an earlier description of scratches on his son’s back, saying it did not match the medical report.

The court had also heard from a forensic analyst who studied the fall itself. He said the physical evidence could fit a jump or a push, but his work did not determine which had happened. He found that a slip and fall did not fit the physical evidence.

The inquest is due to resume on November 17.