Garden Route artist Bevan van Druten during his previous appearance
Image: AYANDA NDAMANE/IOL
Murder accused Bevan van Druten has hired the advocate who got televangelist Timothy Omotoso acquitted of dozens of rape and human trafficking charges.
Advocate Peter Daubermann came on record for Van Druten at the Plettenberg Bay Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, with the Legal Aid attorney who had been handling the case withdrawing.
Van Druten, 53, stands accused of murdering his girlfriend, former Plettenberg Bay detective Anneke "Nicky" van Heerden.
"I came on record for Van Druten and the legal aid attorney withdrew," Daubermann told IOL.
The case was postponed to August 17 for further investigation.
The state is still waiting for data to be extracted from a cellphone.
Magistrate Steve Laurence said this would be the final postponement for further investigation.
By agreement, he ordered the state to hand the defence a copy of the police docket on the same day as Van Druten's next court appearance.
Van Druten remains in custody and was number 39 on the waiting list for psychiatric evaluation, with no bed yet available at Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town.
Van Druten is a well-known driftwood artist from Wilderness who had moved to Plettenberg Bay, celebrated for sculptures he made from wood washed ashore and sold internationally.
He has since been dubbed the "Driftwood Killer" in the local press.
Van Heerden, 54, was a former Plettenberg Bay detective who was well known in the local community and known to friends as "Alaska".
Lying face down in the sand, her body was discovered along the Keurbooms River in the early hours of January 19.
The grim discovery came after police responded to reports of a woman screaming in terror and found her body next to a vehicle believed to be Van Druten's bakkie.
She was declared dead at the scene.
The two had recently started a romantic relationship after she looked after his home and pets in September last year.
According to those who knew her, the pair “instantly clicked”.
She had only introduced Van Druten to some of her family members the day before her body was found.
The case drew intense public attention from the outset.
At least six women came forward claiming to have taken out protection orders against Van Druten, with some describing him as a "scary, scary man".
Van Druten abandoned an earlier bid for bail and was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
During an earlier appearance he told Laurence he saw himself as the Archangel Michael and that Van Heerden was Jesus Christ.
Daubermann, an advocate based in Gqeberha, is best known for securing the acquittal of Omotoso.
Judge Irma Schoeman acquitted Omotoso and his two co-accused of all charges in the Gqeberha High Court in April last year.
The ruling brought to an end a trial that had run for roughly eight years, on more than 30 counts including rape, sexual assault and human trafficking.
Schoeman ruled the state had failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, citing inadequate cross-examination and prosecutorial mishandling.
She found the cross-examination of Omotoso and his co-accused had been so weak it was as if it never took place, and flagged irregularities by the lead prosecutor.
Daubermann had challenged witness credibility and accused the former prosecutor of misconduct.
The NPA has been fighting to appeal the verdict.
After an earlier high court bid for clarification was dismissed, the NPA filed a petition directly to the Supreme Court of Appeal in February this year.
That petition is still pending.
IOL