Teen describes mom’s fatal stabbing

PE court hears boy dispute stepfather’s claim that he killed his wife in rage over alleged affair

I became angry and grabbed a knife ... I began stabbing her

AHUMANSDORP teenager described yesterday how he had watched his stepfather fatally stab his mother last year. “You can’t tell a woman that you love her and then do that [kill her],” he said in the Port Elizabeth High Court where his stepfather, Jan Malgas, 46, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, Gertie, on September 30.

Malgas said he caught the 51year-old woman having an affair, and, in a fit of rage, he stabbed her to death.

After his lengthy plea was read to Judge Mandela Makaula, the prosecution said it did not accept the plea of guilty on a factual basis.

Malgas said he and his wife had separated a week prior to the murder.

He said on the evening of September 30 he had visited her at her Jacob Street home in Humansdorp, where she and her 16-year-old son were watching TV. He then left and went home. “I returned later that night to fetch clothes and my ID book. I knocked on the door and when there was no answer I walked around to the back of the house.

“I then saw a male person climb out of the window.”

Malgas said he had suspected his wife of having an affair.

He said when she eventually opened the door to let him into the house, he demanded his clothes and ID book, but every time he tried speaking to her, she ignored him.

“I became angry and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. I began stabbing her.”

Malgas said Gertie tried to flee but he continued to run after her, stabbing her in the back as she ran.

Eventually she hid in a neighbour’s house, where she died.

“I went back to the house to fetch my belongings. I wanted to end the relationship.

“At that stage I did not know she had died,” Malgas said.

“I put the knife back in the kitchen and I left.”

Malgas said he handed himself over to police the following morning when his father informed him that his wife was dead.

Taking the stand later, Gertie’s son, who The Herald has decided not to name, countered his stepfather’s allegations of an affair being the motive for the murder.

He said he had slept in his mom’s room that night and that there had not been another man there.

The soft-spoken boy, slight in stature, stared ahead at the judge as he answered questions. He avoided all eye contact with his stepfather.

He said his mom had been sleeping when Malgas entered the house. She did not open the door for him as alleged in his plea.

“I had locked all the doors before going to bed and he did not have a key, so I don’t know how he got in.”

He said Malgas started stabbing Gertie while she was still in bed.

“She tried to get up but he slapped her. I then tried to push him away but he pushed me out of the way,” the boy said.

He said he ran to a neighbour’s house for assistance.

Testimony continues.