'Cop stabber' gets bail
2008-02-04 21:08
Grahamstown - A 35-year-old woman accused of murdering a senior policeman appeared in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Antoinette Barnard, of Grahamstown, was released on bail of R5 000.
She is accused of stabbing to death Inspector Jacob Venter, 36, at his Worcester Street flat, at 04:30 on Saturday, February 2.
Barnard appeared before Magistrate Makhetha Pheko, and was not asked to plead and no charges were put to her. The case was remanded to March 3 for further investigation.
According to the charge sheet, Venter was stabbed several times in the left shoulder, but the fatal wound was inflicted in the heart. Venter died at the scene.
Barnard turned herself in to police on the same afternoon as the alleged murder.
Venter was the son of Fanie Venter, the former principal of the city's PJ Olivier Afrikaans High School.
Barnard, the common law wife of Venter, has two children from her first marriage, and one with Venter.
Barnard, a slim petite woman, dressed in a candy striped blouse and grey skirt, sat in the dock before the proceedings began.
Her attorney Marius Wolmarans, asked to make a formal bail application, and public prosecutor Noluthando Ndmase told the court the state would have no objection to bail.
After a brief adjournment, Wolmarans, reading from an affidavit into the court record said his client had no previous convictions, and was in full employment.
Pheko said the court was satisfied that the interests of justice would be served by allowing the bail application to succeed.
Barnard was ordered to report to the Adelaide police station daily, between the hours of 08:00 and 20:00.
He also ordered her not to leave the magisterial district of Adelaide without written permission from the investigating officer.
- SAPA