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Cape Town - Nine stab wounds inflicted with a knife and pair of scissors killed mother of three Vuyiseka Poni, after she had fled from her husband and sought refuge at a friend's house, the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday.
Investigating officer Sergeant Mbongeni Nomala said when he reported to the scene in Westlake on January 2, he found blood-spattered walls and Poni's bloody body on her friend's bed.
"I couldn’t even count the number of wounds; there were too many," he said during the bail application of Vuyiseka's husband Mzuvukile Poni, who is accused of her murder.
He (Mzuvukile) apparently locked himself in the bedroom with Poni. The latch of the door was broken when neighbours tried to stop the attack, he testified.
Poni had a protection order against her husband, although they were still living in the same house.
Nomala said the post-mortem found a sexual act had occurred before Poni's death. Police believed he raped her.
Poni’s husband, a project administrator, previously told the court he would plead guilty, with reasons, but elected to remain silent on the merits of the case.
At the start of his bail application, he told Magistrate Goolam Bawa that he stabbed his wife on January 2, but claimed he had not been told she had died of her wounds.
Police arrested him at a home nearby.
Nomala said he had changed his pants. Witnesses claimed his relatives had taken them to be washed. He, however, had no affidavit or statement to support this.
Nomala told the court he opposed the suspect’s bail application because he was a danger to himself and the community, who were angered by his wife's violent death.
In the 13 years he had been a detective, he said he had never seen such a case.
The bail application continues on Wednesday.
