'I saw my friend shot to death'
2008-11-04 22:30
Pretoria - A Dullstroom woman clutched her stomach in disbelief as she fell out of a window after her husband allegedly shot her, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday.
The evidence was presented in the trial of Johan Riekert, 43, who is charged with murdering his wife, Riekie, 40, at Milly's Trout Stall in Dullstroom on March 11 last year.
He has denied guilt to the charge.
Lloyd Bekker testified that he stopped over at the trout shop on his way back to Pretoria that day.
He had just placed goods he bought in his car when his girlfriend drew his attention to a commotion at the store.
She thought the store was being robbed and Bekker went to see if he could help.
"When I was just outside the store, I saw two people in close contact with each other.
"It looked as if a man was shaking the shop attendant by the shoulders," Bekker said.
Surprised
The shop attendant was about one or two metres away from him when the shots were fired.
"She started falling out of the window and then there were a couple of more shots and we ran away.
"After the first two shots, she held her stomach and moved her hand up over her mouth as if she was surprised," Bekker testified.
"She was looking at me and then she just lost everything and tipped out of the window head first.
"She didn't even try to stop with her hands. Then more shots went off."
Bekker said he saw the man moving past them and throwing something into his car.
"He then turned around and walked back to the woman, stopped a few paces short, adjusted his belt and then turned away.
The man did not appear to have any injuries as he walked back to his car and drove off.
Annemarie Stuiver, who owns the shop next door to the trout store, testified that she had heard what sounded like two crackers and had then seen Riekert standing over his wife's body and firing another shot.
"It is a picture that I will never, never ever get out of my head... I'm not making it worse than it was.
"My friend was shot in front of my eyes," a weeping Stuiver said.
The trial continues.
- SAPA