Man who shot his wife jailed
Protestations of innocence a lie – magistrate
AMAN who shot his wife in the heart and later told police she had shot herself during a struggle over the firearm was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder.
Mkhululi Boki, 43, maintained his innocence throughout his two-year trial in the East London Magistrate’s Court.
He was arrested on May 24 2014 after his 37-year-old wife Nokuthula Gadudu was declared dead on arrival at the Frere Hospital.
The couple lived in Duncan Village with their two children aged two and 10.
Boki, who had been in the employ of the South African Post Office for 18 years, said when the gun went off, he was trying to wrestle it out of his wife’s hands.
However, magistrate Ignatius Kitching found Boki had contradicted himself on the stand.
He said this was because Boki had testified that his wife was unaware of the gun which was located under the mattress of their double bed.
Kitching said three witnesses who testified were friends and neighbours of the couple.
The witnesses had given similar versions including that Boki had shot his wife outside their house in broad daylight during an argument.
“The accused was a lawful owner of a 9mm pistol.
“This firearm was kept underneath the bed and according to the accused the firearm was only known to the deceased,” Kitching said.
“The shooting happened during broad daylight and the deceased later died in hospital. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the chest that penetrated the heart.”
He said one witness was called to the house while the couple was fighting.
“The witness testified that she went to the house and found the deceased assaulting the accused, who was sitting on his bed.
“The witness took the stick from the deceased and threw it outside the house and the deceased continued assaulting the accused with her bare hands, causing the witness to withdraw the child from the back of the deceased,” said Kitching, adding the witness had then left the scene with the baby.
The magistrate said the witness later heard a gunshot that killed Gadudu.
Kitching said when the witness went to investigate she saw the “deceased lying on the ground clutching her hands to her upper chest uttering the words ‘you shot me in my heart’ to her husband.”
He said Boki’s testimony that the gun went off during a scuffle was a “lie” as Gadudu sustained a gunshot wound on the upper chest instead of the lower chest where the couple’s hands were.
Boki was transported to the West Bank correctional centre to begin his sentence.
The children have since been taken into the custody of Gadudu’s mother. —