INQUEST: ‘She blinked at me’ — witness recounts finding Anele Tembe alive after fall
A witness gave a graphic account of the final moments of Anele Tembe’s life, describing how she was bleeding from her mouth and struggling to breathe.
A Cape Town inquest heard the final moments of Anele Tembe's life, revealing a struggle for survival after a fall from the 10th-floor Pepperclub Hotel balcony. Robert Stefanutto, a witness, testified that he saw the 22-year-old chef and aspiring businesswoman alive beneath a sheet after initially mistaking her for a corpse. Stefanutto instructed security not to look as he pulled the sheets away, discovering her eyes were open and she was blinking.
She was found naked, with a severely injured leg and blood pooling from her mouth. The hotel room where Tembe and her boyfriend, rapper Kiernan Forbes, were staying had been the scene of a heated argument about Tembe's father pressuring her to marry Forbes' uncle. Forbes had called security when he entered the room, spotting a woman threatening to jump from the balcony.
Police officers found blood stains on bedding, towels, and in the bathroom, along with a 30cm-wide blood stain on the bedding and a champagne bottle with blood around its neck. A front-desk employee recounted receiving a frantic call from Forbes, who sounded panicked, followed by a scream and a loud bang as Tembe fell from the balcony. The inquest will continue on Wednesday, with over 20 more witnesses expected to testify.
Written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
