Wife to unlock cellphone

When narrating the circumstances of the case, the accused claimed that he received a call from his wife, informing him that she was unwell. He said later on, his wife’s phone was off.

“I then went to her house and when I knocked on the door, it was locked. I went to a window and found its curtain slightly shifted. I saw two heads on the bed, she was with a man,” the law enforcer elaborated.

He further told the court that he pushed his hand through the window to touch the man’s head, only for the man to caution his wife. He narrated that his wife went outside to talk to him, but he was infuriated at this point.

He confessed to having assaulted his wife with fists.

On the issue of the phone, the accused explained that he and his wife were discussing the issue of the other man she was allegedly seeing, and he only asked her to unlock the phone.

Pictures

He said he did this to ascertain if his wife had deleted the man’s pictures. He said his wife purportedly denied any involvement with this man, and yet he believed it was quite obvious to him.

The court found the accused guilty in the first count, while it found him not guilty in the second and third counts, where he was acquitted and discharged.

In mitigation, the accused said he was employed and had three children. He said he was responsible for the maintenance of six people and appealed to the court to mete a lenient sentence.

In passing the sentence, Principal Magistrate Msibi sentenced the law enforcer to one-year imprisonment with an option to pay a fine of E2 000.

His sentence was wholly suspended for three years, on condition that he was not found guilty of a similar offence during the period of suspension.