‘Leave me alone, get away from me’: witness recalls screams before Anele Tembe’s fatal fall

“Leave me alone, get away from me.”

These were the words Roberto Stefanutto told the Cape Town magistrate’s court he heard a woman scream moments before Anele Tembe fell from the 10th floor of the city’s Pepperclub Hotel in April 2021.

The shouting, he testified, was followed by a “wailing” scream, a loud bang and a man’s voice crying out: “My God, my God.”

Stefanutto, who lives in a building about 50m to 60m from the hotel, was among six witnesses who testified on Monday as the formal inquest into the 22-year-old’s death got under way, more than five years after she died.

Tembe, who was engaged to rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, fell from the hotel in the early hours of April 11 2021. Forbes, who was murdered in Durban in February 2023, was with her at the hotel.

The court ruled that witnesses who did not want to be identified could not be named. Some also asked that their testimony not be recorded. Stefanutto, however, agreed to be named, recorded and filmed during his testimony.

He told the court his apartment overlooks Pepper Street and is directly opposite the Pepperclub Hotel.

From his balcony, he said he has an unobstructed view of the hotel and surrounding buildings.

At about 7.30am on the morning of Tembe’s death, Stefanutto was sitting on his couch watching the morning news and drinking coffee, with his balcony door open, when he heard an argument.

“I heard an altercation between a man and a woman. It was loud,” he said.

He initially did not think much of it because noise from people on nearby Long Street was not unusual.

I just sort of prayed to her. I didn’t know if she was a religious person, and that seemed to calm and comfort her.

—  Roberto Steffanutto

“But it progressively became louder and more heated.”

Stefanutto went onto his terrace and looked down to see where the commotion was coming from, but could not see anyone in the street. He returned to his couch.

“I then heard loud shouting, ‘Leave me alone, get away from me,’ which was repeated. This was immediately followed by a wailing sound and a loud bang, which I initially thought was gunshots, that someone had been attacked on the street.

“This was followed by a male voice shouting, ‘My God, my God.’”

Stefanutto rushed back onto his terrace and saw a person lying in the street outside the hotel.

“When I looked up, I saw people looking down on the street from the balcony of the hotel.”

He ran from his apartment to the hotel, where he found Tembe’s body had already been covered with a sheet by security personnel.

Initially, he believed she was dead.

He called one of the hotel’s owners, whom he knew, but while speaking on the phone noticed Tembe’s hand move.

“Once I’d uncovered her and saw the condition she was in, I then called [emergency services] to get medical attention.”

Stefanutto told the court he tried to comfort Tembe while waiting for paramedics.

He cleared her airway as best he could and wiped away blood before telling her not to be afraid and that help was coming.

“I just sort of prayed to her. I didn’t know if she was a religious person, and that seemed to calm and comfort her.”

Paramedics later placed Tembe on oxygen and attempted to resuscitate her after she went into cardiac arrest, he testified.

Stefanutto also testified about seeing Forbes after the fall. He said Forbes appeared calm and was speaking to someone on his phone.

Witness 2, a police warrant officer whose identity is protected by the court, also testified about what officers found inside the hotel room from which Tembe fell.

The officer said there were bloodstains near a champagne bottle, as well as blood on bedding and towels in the room. Cigarette butts were also found, and a chair was on the balcony.

The precise timing of events emerged as a key focus during Monday’s proceedings.

A hotel manager, whose identity is also protected, testified that it took him about 25 minutes to reach the hotel after he was alerted to the incident.

“We began investigating what happened and where the guest was from,” he said.

He went to the room with the hotel’s managing director and police officers before heading to the server room to review CCTV footage from cameras throughout the building.

The footage was downloaded and handed to a police captain.

“The time of the impact is 07:43,” he told the court.

Asked about gaps in the CCTV footage, the manager explained that the hotel’s cameras were motion-activated and recorded when movement was detected.

Monday marked the first day of the formal inquest, with six witnesses taking the stand, including two police officers, a hotel manager, Stefanutto, a businessperson who supplied video footage to police and a hotel employee.

The inquest will resume in the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Wednesday morning, when further evidence surrounding the circumstances of Tembe’s death is expected to be heard.