Verdict: Vernon Witbooi, [left], Geraldo Parsons, Eben van Niekerk, [second right], have been found guilty of murder, rape, kidnap and robbery in the tragic carjacking of two college students in Cape Town, South Africa in May 2017. Nashville Julius, [right], was found guilty of kidnapping and robbing Cornelius and Marsh

Three men have been found guilty of kidnapping, gang-raping and murdering a university student in South Africa last year.
Hannah Cornelius, 21, was carjacked by four men while dropping off fellow student Cheslin Marsh, 22, at his home in Stellenbosch, west of Cape Town, after a night out in May 2017.

The hoodlums men robbed and assaulted Marsh and left him for dead, before brutally raping Cornelius, stabbing her in the neck and crushing her skull with a rock.
Geraldo Parsons, 27, Vernon Witbooi, 33, and Eben van Niekerk, 28, have today been found guilty of the rape and murder, as well as the kidnap, robbery and attempted murder of Marsh.
Witbooi, whom the judge revealed has a violent criminal record going back 19 years, was later filmed giving a camera a ‘thumbs up’ as he left Western Cape Court.
Related: SA student Hannah Cornelius, 21, was killed ‘because she fought back after realizing carjackers were going to gang-rape her AGAIN’- Gang of four thugs then ‘took her underwear as a trophy’
College student Hannah Cornelius, prosecutors claim was killed ‘because she fought back after realizing assailants were going to gang-rape her a second time’ The […]

Video footage from the court posted on social media by Times Live hears Parsons and Witbooi being asked in Afrikaans if they are sorry, to which Parsons responds that he is.
A fourth man, Nashville Julius, 29, was found guilty of kidnapping and robbing Cornelius and Marsh, News 24 reports.
Parsons had previously told the court during the trial that the quartet had only intended on stealing the victim’s’ car and that the incident spiralled after they saw the two students still inside.
He said the desperate student had bargained with them, agreeing to let the men sexually assault her – as long as they let her live.
However, several of the men brutally raped her, after which they threw her into the trunk of her own car, and drove her to a secluded spot where they murdered her.
CCTV footage released during the trial shows how the incident began in the early hours of May 27, 2017.
In the footage the four men are seen surroundeing the victim’s VW Citi Golf, parked outside the apartment block  where Cheslin Marsh lived.
Related: Four men on trial in the carjacking and savage murder of brilliant student – Hannah Cornelius was gang raped and beaten to death with a rock after stopping to give a friend a ride home to stop thugs stealing his skateboard
Trial begins in the murder of honors college student who was gang raped, strangled and beaten to death with a rock after stopping to give a friend a ride home to stop thugs […]

Marsh recovered consciousness the following day, and staggered to a nearby home suffering severe head injuries and a broken arm to raise the alarm about his friend.
Unknown to him her body had been found just hours earlier, dumped by the roadside.  After the rape and murder of Ms Cornelius, the gang went on a crime spree in the hijacked car, robbing at least three women before the stolen car was spotted and a high speed police chase began.
Three of the suspects were arrested after dumping the car and fleeing on foot. The fourth man was arrested hours later. Sentencing proceedings resume on Thursday.