Rob Evans Bail Appeal: Inside the Defence’s Battle to Overturn His Murder Case Ruling

A courtroom in Gqeberha once again became the stage for the unfolding tragedy surrounding Rob Evans, the 58-year-old businessman accused of killing his girlfriend, Vanessa van Rensburg, at his Oyster Bay holiday home over Easter weekend.

But this time, the drama wasn’t about the murder itself. It was about the decision that kept Evans behind bars.

A courtroom divided

Evans, who was not present in court, listened from afar as his legal team argued that the magistrate who denied his bail in July had been “too emotional” and legally mistaken.

His defence insists that the Humansdorp Regional Court treated the case as premeditated murder, a classification that raises the bar for bail, without sufficient evidence to justify it.

“There was no proof of prior planning or intent,” said defence lawyer Paul Roelofse. “The magistrate’s conclusions were based on assumptions rather than facts.”

Roelofse told the Gqeberha High Court that the couple’s Easter weekend began as a peaceful getaway, a road trip to the coast filled with fishing plans and whisky on the rocks. “There was no evidence of conflict,” he added.

The fatal night at Oyster Bay

What happened that night remains a source of grim speculation.

According to the state, Evans beat Van Rensburg with a whisky bottle during a drunken altercation, leaving her with 23 injuries, one of them resembling a bite mark. Her body was found inside their holiday home the next morning.

State advocate Marius Stander, however, insists this was no heat-of-the-moment fight. “He beat her to death and then strangled her,” he told the court. “This was a deliberate act, not an accident.”

A life of contradictions

Evans’ legal team painted him as a family man with deep community roots, a Gqeberha businessman, father of three, and employer of 40 staff at Algoa Plastics. They argued he has no reason to flee, no criminal record, and enough local support to guarantee he’d comply with bail conditions.

Stander countered that Evans’ respectability masked a darker pattern, a long history of emotional and physical abuse that, in the state’s view, escalated to murder.

“The violence didn’t come out of nowhere,” Stander said. “It built up over time, and it ended in tragedy.”

A debate over evidence and emotion

The defence’s case largely hinges on what it calls the magistrate’s “emotional” reading of the evidence. Roelofse accused her of speculating about what happened behind closed doors instead of relying on hard proof.

But Stander pushed back, saying the defence’s version, that Van Rensburg’s death was accidental or unplanned doesn’t fit the evidence found at the scene. Broken glass, a cleaned-up whisky bottle, and Evans’ late-night behaviour all raised red flags, he said.

A story that’s divided South Africans

The Evans case has gripped the public, not only for its brutality, but for what it reveals about South Africa’s ongoing battle with gender-based violence and power dynamics in relationships.

On social media, the reactions have been sharp. Some have called the case “another tragedy of privilege,” while others insist Evans deserves a fair hearing before judgment.

“Money doesn’t make you innocent,” one user wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Another countered, “The justice system must rely on facts, not feelings, even in high-profile cases.”

What comes next

The Gqeberha High Court will deliver its ruling on whether Evans should be released on bail in the coming days.

For now, both sides remain entrenched: the defence insists on a flawed process, while the state says Evans’ actions, and his silence, speak volumes.

Whatever the outcome, one truth remains clear: behind the legal arguments is a woman whose life ended violently, and a family still waiting for justice.

{Source: IOL}

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