A single father is dreading the day he has to tell his three-year-old daughter that her mother was murdered.
|||Cape Town - A single father is dreading the day he has to tell his three-year-old daughter that her mother was murdered in their rented home in Claremont.
Claude Kruger testified in the Western Cape High Court how the murder of his fiancée, Anzunette du Plessis, 33, had affected him and their daughter, who turned three last Monday.
An emotional Kruger broke down while seated in the witness box of the high court across from the man - Moegamat Armien Salie - who admitted to killing his partner of eight years.
Kruger said the killing on October 4 had devastated his life.
“Where do I start? My whole life is destroyed. My daughter had to see a psychiatrist at two-and-a-half years old. What kind of life is that? Words cannot describe how it has affected us.”
He felt as if he was living a double life. “In front of her (my daughter) I have to be happy but when she’s not there… it’s like living two lives. But the day will come when she asks ‘where’s Mommy?’ I can’t explain that to her now. I shudder at the thought of that day,” Kruger said, wiping his tears.
Kruger glanced at Salie intermittently during his evidence. Salie gazed back.
Salie, 31, of Mitchells Plain, has admitted that he slit Du Plessis’ throat and stabbed her multiple times in the back and chest. But the State did not accept his guilty plea and decided to lead evidence to prove that the murder was premeditated.
Kruger told the court he had left home for work around 7.30am on October 4, leaving Du Plessis and their daughter at home.
Their domestic worker and child minder, Ritta Khumalo, had arrived shortly after he left.
About 11am Khumalo took the toddler for a walk, leaving Du Plessis at home.
While they were out Salie arrived at the house in Buchanan Street saying he wanted to check on the work he and his father had done to the roof about two weeks earlier. He allegedly attacked Du Plessis and stole household goods valued at R43 000.
Du Plessis had worked from home as a medical specialist recruiter.
About 12.30pm Kruger received a call saying his fiancée had been attacked. He rushed home
, where a police officer told him that Du Plessis was dead.
Kruger said he and his daughter had since moved to Mpumalanga.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus