Husband denies deadly attack

“I DIDN’T do it. She was attacked by another man.”

This is what a Mitchells Plain man accused of viciously assaulting his wife told the Western Cape High Court this week.

Steve Bastiaan took the stand to present his version of how Belinda Bastiaan, the mother of his two children, came to be found lying halfnaked in a pool of blood in their living room in June 2015.

Bastiaan is accused of assaulting and raping her and gouging out her eyes in an attack that led to her death.

A month before the attack, the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court issued a restraining order in terms of which Bastiaan was to reside in Elsies River, stay away from Mitchells Plain and not have contact with his wife, after she charged him with assault.

However, before the attack the couple were seen leaving together with their children, after visiting a relative in Mitchells Plain.

Bastiaan told the court that a man he did not know later came to the house where he and Belinda were spending the night. He said this man demanded to see Belinda, calling her his girlfriend.

Bastiaan said he had left to avoid an altercation and gone back to Elsies River. He denied subsequently using Belinda’s phone to contact relatives to fetch the children.

Asked by his lawyer, Thulasive Twalo, about witnesses’ statements claiming he had threatened Belinda, saying he would “take your eyes out”, Bastiaan told the court: “I never said that.” He also denied beating Belinda on the last night they were together.

The trial continues on Tuesday.