Damning photo evidence of a Gqeberha toddler's battered and bruised body, testimony of continuous crying and screaming, and a harrowing eyewitness account of how 19-month-old Krisley Dirker was allegedly forcefully beaten before her death.
This was just some of the evidence that came to light in the Gqeberha High Court on Tuesday, during the first day of the trial against Krisley's mother and stepdad, Robin and Kristen Clarke.
The Clarke's have been charged with murder, abuse, or deliberate neglect of a child, and failure to provide a child with medical assistance.
When the charges were finally put to them at the start of the trial, twelve years after Krisley's death, both accused pleaded not guilty.
Seasoned State Advocate Marius Stander kicked off the State's case by handing in two photographs of Krisley to the court, depicting numerous bruises all over her body, mere days before her death.
Krisley was admitted to the Livingstone Hospital on 10 October 2013 where she had fallen into a coma before passing away seven days later.
The State alleges that her death was due to prolonged and continuous assaults between 27 September and up until 10 October 2013.
Krisley's biological father, Bradley Dirker, told the court that he received a distressed phone call from Kristen on the day his daughter was hospitalised.
Kristen and Bradley had already parted ways and Krisley was living with Kristen and Robin, who was still her boyfriend at the time.
According to Bradley, Kristen informed him that their daughter had been hospitalised because she was "very clumsy" and had "fallen very hard."
When he arrived at the hospital Kristen was upset and traumatised while Robin seemed stressed, Bradley testified.
A visibly upset Bradley was shown photographs of a seemingly battered and bruised Krisley.
He recalled how he had spent time with his daughter about ten days before her admission into the hospital and added that she did not have any bruises on her body when he handed her back to Kristen after the visit.
The owner of one of the flats that the Clarkes rented in Morningside in 2013, Larry Ting Chong, was an eyewitness to one of the alleged assaults on Krisley.
Ting Chong was one of three witnesses who testified about Krisley's continuous uncontrolled crying and screaming.
He told the court that witnessing the child being beaten by Robin, allegedly in the presence of Kristen still haunts him.
According to Ting Chong he heard Krisley cry and scream, which caused him to look out of his dining room window, where he saw the accused in front of their flat.
"He had the child by one arm. He was hitting her on her bum and legs."
In answer to further questions posed by Stander, Ting Chong said the beating was not just a normal hiding that parents sometimes gave their children.
Ting Chong said Krisley's feet were in the air while Robin was swinging her by one arm while hitting her with "quite a bit of force."
"I won't forget it. The child was screaming and crying.
"You don't hit a child that hard," he said.
Other state witnesses who bore testimony to Krisley's crying and screaming were neighbour Claudette Stoltz and her domestic worker, Gloria Adam.
Adam heard the screams by day, and Stoltz when she returned home from work after 5 pm, including a male voice telling the crying child to "shut up".
According to Adam's testimony, the crying was once so bad that she peeped over the boundary wall to see and enquire what was going on.
This was when she saw Robin and another male smoking dagga with the child in their presence, Adam testified.
The court heard that Robin told Adam that the child was not hungry and did not want to sleep, but that she was "naughty".
The previous head of the SAPS Victim Support Centre at the Kabega Park police station testified that two separate complaints were lodged regarding Krisley's well-being.
One was from an anonymous caller and another from Krisley's grandmother on the day she was hospitalised.
Other testimony that was led were of photographs that Kristen had taken of Krisley's bruised body that were sent to her friends, one of whom reported the matter to Childline.
The trial continues.
