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Articles: did a very bad thing: tearful wife-killing suspect

Posted by admin on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 01:52 AM

REHOBOTH resident Prollius van Zyl had to fight back tears in the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday as he recounted how he came face to face with his wife's body in a mortuary.
He allegedly stabbed her to death during a quarrel. Van Zyl (32), who was a partner in an electrical engineering business at the time, had spent almost 17 months in custody by the time he got the chance to tell Acting Judge Kato van Niekerk about the events that led to him being charged with murder. For Van Zyl, the passage of time appeared not to have blunted the emotional impact of his wife's violent death on November 23 2002. The weight of his memories appeared to become too much as he described on Thursday how he tried to get his late wife, Melinda van Zyl, to wake up when he saw her in a mortuary. Van Zyl is accused of murdering his wife by stabbing her eight times with a knife. He pleaded guilty to a charge of murder on Thursday. However, the issue is pending because of a claim he made when he testified in mitigation of sentence - that he did not actually remember stabbing her, and that he did not intend to hurt or kill her. Acting Judge Van Niekerk asked defence counsel Mel Harmse and Deputy Prosecutor General Louis du Pisani to address her on whether a plea of not guilty should be recorded when Van Zyl's case returns to court on April 28. In his plea explanation, Van Zyl admitted that he had stabbed his wife several times, and that when he stabbed her, he realised that she could die. Melinda van Zyl (37) died from multiple stab wounds and from shock, according to the post-mortem. Among the eight stab wounds found on her body, one was behind her left ear, and three on the left side of her neck. Van Zyl told the court that he and his late wife had two children. The day before the incident he did not return home after work, but set off on a round of heavy drinking. He testified that he and a friend, who travelled with him from Windhoek, where Van Zyl worked, had drunk three bottles of ouzo spirits by the time they arrived at Rehoboth on the evening before the stabbing. According to Van Zyl, he was no longer sober, and because he did not want his wife to see him in that state, they travelled to a farm near Rehoboth. There he, his friend, and two cousins of his wife drank another four five-litre containers of white wine between them, before setting off to buy more liquor. They had just reached the tar road, some 25 km from Rehoboth, when they overturned their vehicle. Van Zyl then decided to proceed on foot to get help. When he arrived at Rehoboth, though, he met another friend, and instead continued drinking - having switched to red wine by then. It must have been around 03h00 when he arrived home and knocked on his wife's bedroom window to wake her so that she could let him into the house. Soon a quarrel started, with his wife accusing him of having been drinking again, and also accusing him of lying when he told her he had been in a car accident, Van Zyl related. He claimed that during the argument she bit one of his fingers, and that she then left the house, barefoot, and appeared to be heading towards the Police barracks that were situated next to their yard. He grabbed her by her shoulder, Van Zyl said. She reached for a knife he was carrying in a pouch on his belt, and the next moment he saw it open above his head. As they struggled for control of the knife, she hit him with her elbow, and also with her knee in his face, Van Zyl said. "Next, she was sitting in front of me, and blood was spurting out of her neck," he related. "I must have stabbed her because it was only the two of us." He still appeared to be composed as he recalled this detail. Van Zyl continued that he tried to help her up, but that she shooed him off. He then walked away, ending up at a shebeen, where he tried to tell a where he tried to tell a Policeman what had happened, but could not manage to do so. When he returned home later, the Police arrested him. The next day, Van Zyl added, he asked to be taken to see his wife. At the Rehoboth mortuary, they took his wife's body out of a fridge, and pulled off the sheet to show him her face. At this stage, Van Zyl appeared to be overcome by emotion. Fighting back tears, he related:"I called her. She wouldn't open her eyes. I shook her, but she did not want to open her eyes. I was asking her, 'Melinda, please, open your eyes', I opened her eyelids to say she must get up, but she couldn't." He had no explanation for why he had stabbed her, he said, before telling the court how proud he felt when each of his children were born. He again appeared to be on the verge of crying when he added: "How should I now explain to these children why I did this, when I myself don't know? I did a very bad thing - something that I never thought would happen to me." Van Zyl remains in custody.

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