Wife tells court of deadly attack
2012-10-23 19:06
Pretoria - An Olievenhoutbosch man attacked his wife and stabbed her son to death hours after she tried to have him arrested, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Tuesday.
Portia Moima testified in the trial of her husband, Stephanus Mnguni, 40, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering her 21-year-old son Kgothatso, attempting to murder her, and setting their RDP house alight.
Mnguni claimed in his plea explanation that Kgothatso attacked him with a pitch fork and a knife and that his wife jumped on his back while he and her son were struggling for possession of the knife.
He said he had acted in self-defence, had no intention of killing anyone and that Moima and her son were injured during the struggle.
Mnguni admitted setting papers on his bed and a sofa alight, but said the items were his property.
Portia Moima said she had obtained a protection order against her husband after he repeatedly assaulted her in front of their children.
He was an aggressive man who had in the past assaulted her so severely that she had to get stitches in her arm, and still did not have the full use of her arm, she told the court.
She said the police were called out to their house after Mnguni assaulted her again, despite the protection order.
All of them were taken to the police station, but Mnguni was allowed to return home. He then attacked her and her son with a knife. She fled from him and hid in a neighbour's house, from where she phoned the police again.
She only ventured outside when the police arrived. She found her son lying dead in the street. He had been stabbed in the neck.
The trial continues.
- SAPA
