Wife killed for 'having secret'

2008-05-13 10:26

Jeanne-Marié Versluis

Pretoria - A judge has said that a husband has no right to spy on his wife's SMSes. A wife also has the right to keep the contents and source of an SMS to herself and not reveal them to her husband.

This came to light in the verdict of acting Judge Tholi Vilakazi in the Pretoria High Court on Monday, when he sent a high-ranking member of the Department of Labour, David Linley Sonkosi, 43, to jail for 15 years for murdering his wife.

Sonkosi, a director in the department, was found guilty of beating to death his wife Pumla Mkatali in their home in Centurion in May 2005. She was a teacher.

Evidence was handed in that Sonkosi hit his wife's head and body repeatedly against the floor before hitting her with a thick leather belt.

Became suspicious

Sonkosi, who has a B.SC and honours degree in agriculture, as well as several diplomas, said in mitigation of sentencing that the assault on his wife was caused by an SMS that she received very late at night.

She did not want to say who sent it or what it was about. He became suspicious because they usually had no secrets from one another, he said.

They had a fight about the SMS. He called her sister who then confirmed that his wife was having an affair with another man.

Sonkosi said he became furious because he had trusted his wife.

He also testified that he was still being employed by the department and had been granted 100 days leave for the trial.

Acting Judge Vilakazi asked, "What gave you the right to question her over the SMS?"

Sonkosi said it was part of "family practice" and they discussed SMSes with each other. He had expected her to reveal it to him because she would have expected the same from him.

Acting Judge Vilakazi said during sentencing that women had to be protected from life partners who trampled their rights.

Men and women were equal partners in the marriage. Each had his/her own right to privacy and the freedom of association.

Mkatali had the right not to reveal the SMS or the source of it.

Acting Judge Vilakazi said Sonkosi's suspicion that his wife was cheating on him was based on hearsay and an SMS. He said Sonkosi beat his wife's head repeatedly against the floor. She was screaming. After this, Sonkosi apparently had the audacity to laugh.

"How can anyone accept that you have remorse?" asked the acting judge. The incident had traumatised the couple's children, aged 13 and 10.

"If you have a problem with anger, there are programmes (in jail) for this."

- Beeld