MOTHERWELL - FATHER OF 3 KILLS MOTHER IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN

A 45-year-old father of three was convicted of murder in the Port Elizabeth High court on Tuesday, this after he repeatedly stabbed his estranged wife to death at their Motherwell home during October 2013.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his minor children, previously indicated that as a couple they were facing marital problems and that he had come home one day to find his wife in bed with another man.

In previous testimony he claimed self-defence for his actions and said he “could not stop [stabbing the deceased] even if he wanted to”.

A forensic pathologist’s report indicated that 14 stab wounds were found on the woman’s body, consistent with a bread knife which the man admitted to using.

In reading her judgement on Tuesday, Judge Irma Schoeman said that the statement made it clear that he was not acting in self-defence.

“This evidence is not credible, and the accused’s version is rejected as not being reasonably or possibly true,” she said.

Schoeman indicated that the couple’s son, who was 11 years old at the time of the incident, had made a good impression as a witness.

“What is clear from his evidence is that the accused was furious with the deceased.”

According to the state, the 45-year-old father, who was employed as a technician at a municipality at the time, stabbed his estranged wife repeatedly on her upper body, head and back whilst two of the children, a six-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, were present in their home.

Previously, the man’s daughter, who is now nine years old, testified as to how she peeped out from behind her bedroom door to see the lounge area where her parents were arguing over a sum of R49,000.

The little girl claimed that she had seen her father using a knife to stab her mother. She said that she had begged her father to stop.

Testimony from the 11-year-old boy indicated that he too saw his father stabbing his mother, and the court heard how he closed his room door and then re-opened it to fetch his little sister to be with him.

All three children have since disowned their father and do not make use of his last name.

Schoeman found the man guilty on a count of murder under dolus eventualis, a form of intent which indicates that a person foresees a risk of causing death by the act but continues, thus gambling with the life of another person.

Meanwhile, the children’s grandfather told reporters outside court that the family were relieved and that justice had been served.

“I’m feeling better than any other day. I can sleep better tonight. The children are okay, the young girl still dreams of her mother, she cries in her sleep sometimes. Every year on her mother’s birthday she requests we throw a party,” he said.

VIA - iol.co.za