21-05-2025
Video of Evans ‘assaulting' man at pub played in court
In an effort to demonstrate the alleged violent nature of murder suspect Rob Evans, the prosecution presented a video showing him allegedly assault a man at a pub just weeks before his girlfriend's death.
After the CCTV footage was played to the Humansdorp Regional Court on Wednesday afternoon, where Evans is applying for bail, he remarked: 'It definitely happened.'
Evans is accused of murdering Vanessa van Rensburg at his Oyster Bay holiday home over the Easter weekend.
She was beaten and strangled.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Evans had told the court that Van Rensburg was the aggressor in their relationship.
On his return to the stand on Wednesday afternoon for cross-examination by the state, prosecutor Bianca Burger played the footage of the incident at the Old Grey restaurant to the packed courtroom.
In the video, Evans and Van Rensburg can be seen seated next to each other at a table when a man approaches them and starts speaking to Van Rensburg.
Evans then jumps up and allegedly proceeds to hit the man with a flat hand on the head.
As a result, the man's spectacles break, causing him to bleed.
In a second video, taken from a different angle, the injured man is seen being held up and assisted out of the restaurant by other patrons.
The alleged incident occurred on March 28.
After the video was shown, Burger asked Evans if he wished to comment.
'It definitely happened,' he said.
'Vanessa and I went to Old Grey for a pizza.'
Asked how the assault came about, Evans said the man had made inappropriate remarks to Van Rensburg, which she did not like.
He said after she brought it to his attention, he smacked the man.
'I thought I was standing up for her rights.
'I wouldn't give someone a tap on the head for smiling at my girlfriend.'
Burger said the video contradicted his affidavit in which he claimed not to be a violent person.
She also asked Evans if there were any restaurants the couple were no longer welcome at, to which he said 'no'.
'So, if someone from The Southender were to say you're not allowed back in, would that be a lie?' Burger asked.
'Yes, that's a lie — unless something has changed while I've been in here,' Evans retorted.
'If anybody employed at or associated with Calzoni said you're not allowed there, would that be a lie?' Burger asked.
'Yes. Vanessa and I told the owner we wouldn't be returning. I've never been involved in any arguments.
'The owner said it didn't matter, because we apparently caused trouble anyway.
'But I've never been involved in any altercation [there]. There was no argy-bargy.
'We were watching the rugby — someone was standing in front of me. I asked them to move, as they were blocking the view of the table. Eventually, they did.'
Asked by Burger what he meant by an 'argy-bargy', Evans said it was an altercation.
He said as far as he knew, he was also still welcome at Old Grey.
The bail application continues.
The Herald
