Less than a month before a Port Elizabeth woman was brutally murdered allegedly by her husband, she obtained an interim protection order against him out of fear that he would kill her and their children.
This emerged in an affidavit made by Marilyn Stebuys to a police officer just weeks before her murder took place in June last year.
Her husband, Dene, 40, is charged with her murder, two counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault and the contravention of a protection order. The State alleges that the man did not only beat his wife beyond recognition, but he also stabbed his own son, Denwin, 16, with a knife, when the boy attempted to fuse the situation.
The trial against Dene Stebuys is underway in the Port Elizabeth High Court. On Wednesday, State advocate Jason Thysse brought an application for the admissibility of Marilyn’s affidavit she made to a police officer, in pursuit of obtaining a protection order against him.
In her affidavit, she details an evening she was asleep with her four children and got up to the sounds of loud hooting at her front door.
With her young child in her arms, Marilyn said she got up and gave the house keys to her husband through a security gate.
“He started to shout and insulted me [and] asked why I took so long..I told him the children are sleeping he must stop shouting and making a noise. He shouted the oldest child’s name to open the garage door. I told him the children were sleeping and they have to be at school, but the children were already awake,” her affidavit reads.
“He started beating me all over the face, my daughter took the child away from me. I then tried to run away and ask for help, he then grabbed me. I then shouted to the children to phone the police. He kept on beating me while my nose was bleeding, he noticed that I was not doing anything [so] he bit me on my cheek. My eldest son tried to stop him, he then grabbed a knife and stabbed him.”
Marilyn further details how she and her son went in circles trying to avoid the man she called a husband and a father to her children. She wrote that he threatened to kill her and their 16-year old son.
“When he heard the police coming he held the knife on my neck and said should I make a noise he would stab me. Then the vehicle passed but I could not move. He said if you call the police I will kill you because I feared for my children I said he must stop I will not,” the affidavit read.
The State alleges that on June 5, last year, Marilyn was walking with Jonathan Gabani near a sports complex in Humansdorp when Stebuys suddenly appeared and attacked Gabani.
According to the State when Marilyn refused to go with her husband he grabbed her and beat her using a rock. Marilyn’s body was discovered deserted in bushes near the sports complex.
She was allegedly beaten to such an extent that family members could not identify her bloodied face with her her eyes swollen shut.
The court is expected to make a ruling on the admissibility of Marilyn’s affidavit on Thursday.
– African News Agency (ANA)
