A Humansdorp man will stand trial for brutally stabbing his wife to death after the Port Elizabeth High Court did not accept a plea and sentencing agreement of 25 years, reached by the prosecution and the defence.
Jan Malgas, 46, appeared in the court on Thursday for the murder of his estranged wife Gertie, 51, who was stabbed and killed while trying to escape her husband in September 2016.
Malgas’s guilty plea was handed in before Judge Irma Schoeman, however, the matter was postponed until August 28 for trial.
Malgas faces charges of murder and housebreaking with intent to murder.
The contents of Malgas’s guilty plea were not read out before court.
Speaking after proceedings on Thursday, Gertie’s son Lionel Stone, 34, said that his mother and her husband had separated from one another within the same week of her murder.
Stone claimed that his mother’s husband was constantly drinking and fought with her over money.
The couple were married for about three years.
“He was abusive, I recall a time she had a blue eye. There were constant fights at the house,” said Stone.
The State alleges that Gertie, who worked at the Humansdorp Hospital as a cleaner, was viciously stabbed by her husband in front of her 16-year-old son Nolan Plaatjies.
According to the indictment, Malgas visited Gertie at her home while she was watching TV with her son.
Both mother and son decided to go to bed and Jan supposedly left.
The State contends that the teenager locked all the doors of the home but a short while later heard a noise.
“After a while, Nolan heard some scratching in a cutlery drawer. The bedroom light was switched on and [Jan] was standing there with a knife in his hand.”
The indictment reads that Jan asked his wife for her identity document but when she didn’t respond he started stabbing her with a knife.
The teenage boy started to intervene but he was pushed away by an enraged Malgas.
According to the prosecution, Plaatjies then sought help and ran to a neighbour’s home. The neighbour, Everton Lippert, went to investigate.
When Lippert got to the house, he asked Jan to open the door. The couple came out, but Gertie made a run for it.
Her husband allegedly ran after her while stabbing her in the back. The mother of four sought refuge in Lippert’s home but was followed by Jan. She eventually fled to her son Lionel’s home where she ran into a bedroom and collapsed on the floor.
Three of Gertie’s four sons were at court on Thursday and fondly recalled memories of their mother.
They feel that since their mother’s death the family has been torn apart and live separate lives.
Nolan, who appeared quiet and withdrawn, said that he had received counselling from police once after his mother was killed. He was subsequently in a car accident and sustained head injuries.
The eldest brother, Stone, is optimistic that his younger brothers Nolan, 16 and Rowan,17, are coping while living with their biological father.
Stone believes that Jan never showed remorse after his mother’s death.
“A few days after she was killed he came to us. I thought he was going to say sorry but the first thing he spoke about was money.
“He was abusive and would come home drunk especially after getting paid. I was living in Johannesburg but my mother called me to say come back home. My young brothers were very unhappy,” said Stone.
-African News Agency (ANA)
