He was on his couch with a cup of coffee and the morning news on.
His balcony door was open. Across the road, ten floors up, something was going wrong.
Roberto Steffanutto told the Cape Town magistrate's court he heard a woman shouting the same words over and over — "Leave me alone, get away from me" — and then a wailing scream, a bang he mistook for gunshots, and a man's voice crying out: "My God, my God."
More than five years later, a court is finally trying to work out what happened at the Pepperclub Hotel.
The Inquest Begins
Anele Tembe was 22 when she fell from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town in the early hours of 11 April 2021. She was engaged to rapper Kiernan "AKA" Forbes.
The formal inquest into her death got under way yesterday. Six witnesses testified on day one.
The court ruled that witnesses who did not wish to be identified could not be named. Some also asked that their testimony not be recorded at all.
Steffanutto was the exception. He agreed to be named, recorded and filmed.
What He Says He Heard
Steffanutto lives in a building roughly 50m to 60m from the hotel. His apartment overlooks Pepper Street, directly opposite the Pepperclub. From his balcony, he told the court, he has an unobstructed view of the hotel and the buildings around it.
At about 7.30am, he was sitting on his couch watching the news and drinking coffee.
"I heard an altercation between a man and a woman. It was loud," he said.
At first he did not think much of it. But it did not stop.
"It progressively became louder and more heated."
He went out onto his balcony and looked down into the street to find the source of the noise. He saw nobody. He went back to his couch.
Then it came.
"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.'"
He Ran Back Out And Looked Down
Steffanutto rushed back onto his balcony. In the street outside the hotel, a person was lying on the ground.
Then he looked up.
"When I looked up, I saw people looking down on the street from the balcony of the hotel."
She Was Still Alive
He ran from his flat to the hotel. By the time he got there, security personnel had already covered Tembe's body with a sheet.
He believed she was dead. He phoned one of the hotel's owners, a man he knew personally.
And while he was on that call, he noticed her hand move.
"Once I'd uncovered her and saw the condition she was in, I then called [emergency services] to get medical attention."
Steffanutto told the court he cleared her airway as best he could and wiped away blood. He told her not to be afraid. He told her 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 put Tembe on oxygen and attempted to resuscitate her after she went into cardiac arrest.
What He Says He Saw Of AKA
Steffanutto also told the court about seeing Forbes after the fall.
He said Forbes appeared calm and was speaking to someone on his phone.
The Clock Becomes The Story
Timing emerged as a central thread through yesterday's proceedings.
A hotel manager, whose identity is also protected, testified that it took him about 25 minutes to reach the hotel after being alerted.
"We began investigating what happened and where the guest was from."
He went up to the room alongside the hotel's managing director and police officers, then headed to the server room to pull CCTV footage from cameras throughout the building. The footage was downloaded and handed to a police captain.
His evidence included one hard number.
"The time of the impact is 07:43."
The Timeline As Told In Court
| Time |
Event
|
|---|---|
| About 07:30 | Steffanutto hears a loud argument between a man and a woman |
| Shortly after | Shouting: "Leave me alone, get away from me," repeated |
| Immediately after | A wailing sound, then a loud bang, then a male voice: "My God, my God" |
| 07:43 | Time of impact, according to CCTV reviewed by hotel management |
| After the fall | Body found covered with a sheet by hotel security; Steffanutto uncovers her and sees her hand move |
| Later | Paramedics administer oxygen and attempt resuscitation after cardiac arrest |
| About 25 minutes after alert | Hotel manager arrives on scene |
Key Facts
| Detail |
Information
|
|---|---|
| Deceased | Anele Tembe, 22 |
| Date | 11 April 2021 |
| Location | Pepperclub Hotel, Pepper Street, Cape Town |
| Fell from | 10th floor |
| Engaged to | Kiernan "AKA" Forbes |
| Proceedings | Formal inquest, Cape Town magistrate's court |
| Witnesses on day one | Six |
| Named witness | Roberto Steffanutto |
| Distance from hotel | About 50m to 60m |
| CCTV time of impact | 07:43 |
What Happens Next
The formal inquest resumes tomorrow.
Five years is a long time to wait for a court to start asking questions out loud. For the first time, the sounds of that morning are on the record — a repeated demand to be left alone, a scream, a bang, and a man calling out to God in the street below.
What the rest of the witnesses add to that will decide what this inquest finally concludes.
