Biehl’s Kin Are Taunted in Cape Town : Trial: Backers of murder suspects shout slurs at slain Newport Beach woman’s mother, sister.

Supporters of three men accused of murdering American student Amy Biehl shouted racist slogans at her mother and sister outside the courthouse Tuesday.

Biehl, 26, a Fulbright scholar from Newport Beach, was beaten and stabbed to death Aug. 25 by a mob of black youths while she was driving friends home to Guguletu, a township near Cape Town.

She was killed two days before she was to return to the United States after working a year at the mainly black University of the Western Cape.

About 20 black youths sitting on the courthouse steps refused to move when the Biehls tried to pass after Tuesday’s hearing. They shouted “Kill Americans” and “One Settler, One Bullet”--settler is a derogatory term for whites.

“I can’t be hurt any more than I already am,” Biehl’s mother, Linda, said later.

Linda and Molly Biehl, who had visited Cape Town with the rest of the family in October, returned for the trial after reading reports of witnesses being intimidated by supporters of the accused.

“We were concerned about the intimidation,” Linda Biehl said. “After all, there has to be respect and dignity at a trial.”

Mongezi Manqina, 21, Mzikhona Nofemela, 22, and Vusumzi Ntamo, 22, all members of the Pan Africanist Congress, have pleaded innocent to charges of murder, robbery and public violence in connection with Amy Biehl’s death.

The trial, which opened last November, resumed Monday after a holiday recess. Hearings this week have focused on whether statements the defendants made to police can be admitted as evidence.