Commando’s spurned wife poured boiling water over her young love rival’s head
She told the jury: “She had snapped as I was in her house. She was hunting me down.
“I know we both did something wrong in this situation and the reality is that I had an affair.
“But now I am out of the shock I know I did not deserve what I got.
“I have to live with what she did every day for the rest of my life.”
Fourie admits throwing the water but claims she has no memory of the attack.
South African-born Mr Fourie, 36, began an affair with Miss Stokes in September 2015, jurors were told.
He believed the marriage was over when he told his wife, the mother of his child, a few weeks later. She took the news calmly and went to stay with a friend, Plymouth Crown Court heard. Weeks later, Mr Fourie invited Miss Stokes to watch a rugby match on TV. As they sat on a sofa, they heard a key in the door and moments later Fourie walked in.
She was “eerily calm” and asked her husband to introduce her to Miss Stokes and asked whether she had children, the court heard.
Mr Fourie said his wife had asked him to go upstairs, saying: “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to your girlfriend.”
As he climbed the stairs, Mr Monika Fourie: Calm before attack Fourie heard Miss Stokes’s cries, ran down and saw the attack.
He grabbed Fourie by the hair and punched her, the court heard.
After separating the women, he drove Miss Stokes to hospital.
Fourie, of Plymouth, denies grievous bodily harm with intent but admits GBH without intent.
Psychiatrists believe that she was suffering from “adjustment disorder” possibly leading to an “acute stress reaction”.
Mr Fourie and Miss Stokes split up last year. The trial continues.