Sobbing cop claims wife’s abuse drove him to kill her

He was ‘pushed’ by ‘swearing and insults’

EASTERN Cape Constable Zandisile Zweni yesterday admitted in court to shooting his wife at Voorpos Primary School in Cambridge, East London, last Friday.

Zweni, 44, was testifying in his bail hearing before East London magistrate Joel Cesar.

At one point he broke down and cried when relating the events that led to the two bullets hitting his estranged wife Andiswa Zweni, 36, in the upper body.

Cesar adjourned proceedings in the jam-packed courtroom for 15 minutes to allow the Kidds Beach officer time to reclaim his composure.

Zweni was arrested last Friday after Andiswa, the mother of two of his three children, was shot dead.

Zweni told court he could remember shooting his wife – but also that he would plead not guilty to a charge of premeditated murder.

Cesar postponed the case to Monday as the Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigating officer, who was set to testify today, was not available.

In his evidence, Zweni said the couple had been separated since October as a result of “domestic problems”.

He told the court that on the day in question, he was “pushed and provoked to do what I did” by her “swearing and insults”.

He said he had suffered verbal abuse from his wife “for quite sometime” during their marriage and that he had reported the abuse to her mother and to their mutual friends on numerous occasions.

He said on the day she died they had a quarrel when he went to the school – where she was a school governing body member – to pick up his 11-year old son’s school report.

“When I got there, I was told staff were still in a meeting and that I should come back at around 12.30pm. I then decided to go to Cambridge High, where my 14-year-old daughter studies, to pick up her report.

“When I got there I met my daughter, who had already taken the report. I wanted to leave with her, but she refused, saying her mother did not want me to pick her up and she was avoiding a quarrel between us.

“After I took the report, I called my wife to inform her that I had taken the report, but she did not pick up her phone, resulting in me sending her an SMS informing her,” he told the court.

Zweni said he then headed back to Voorpos. “But before I got there, she called me asking me why I had picked up our daughter’s report and I told her there was nothing wrong with that. She then insulted me, calling me names, saying I was a dog. It was not the first time she had insulted me like that.

“She would sometimes burst into anger without any provocation.”

In mid-sentence he stopped, went silent, sniffed and snorted, and then tears rolled.

After Cesar adjourned proceedings, court orderlies and four family members and friends took him to a nearby waiting room, gave him water to drink and waited until he regained his composure.

When the hearing resumed, he told the court his wife’s insulting outbursts sometimes took place in front of their children and that the 11-year-old boy had sometimes intervened.

“On that day, her anger and insults left me in a state of mind that was very hurtful and disturbed me greatly – to such an extent that I ended up not knowing some of the things I did on that day.”

He said when he returned to Voorpos he spotted his wife driving out of the school.

He blocked her near the gates and got out and went to her vehicle.

“She asked me where our daughter’s report was and I said it was in my car. She alighted from her car and that is when I lost my temper and held her shoulder and walked her towards my car.

“She entered on the passenger’s side and we then started arguing again. I was fine when I met her at the school, but I later lost concentration due to her insults. At that point I did not think straight and I lost my self control,” Zweni said.

Asked by state prosecutor Cynthia Mulindi how he lost his self control, Zweni, with his eyes closed, said: “I was not thinking straight, all I remember was shooting her.”

He said he only remembered the first shot, but Mulindi put it to him that he shot Andiswa twice in her upper body.

Zweni said the only thing he remembered afterwards was someone “ordering” him to put the gun down.

“I can’t say who shouted that order, but I remember there was another lady I did not know who was nearby. I also remember seeing police and paramedics who spoke to me on the scene.”

Mulindi told him there were witnesses who would testify that there was “no screaming” or any argument between the two, and that Zweni shed no tears and showed no remorse after the shooting.

“Another witness says you were very calm and it is the state’s version that you went there only to kill your wife, hence we are saying the murder was premeditated,” Mulindi told him.

She added that in October, just before the wife left their matrimonial home, she had opened a case of domestic violence against him because he had pointed his police gun at her.

“It is untrue,” he said.

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