Murder trial hears of wife’s protection order

THE trial against a man alleged to have stabbed and killed his wife is set to continue this week in the Durban High Court.

Sibusiso Bongekhaya Mvubu is on trial for the 2021 murder of Philisiwe Mvubu.

The State’s evidence is that the woman sustained at least eight stab wounds. In his version, Mvubu said he stabbed his wife once in the neck, but when she fell she was accidentally stabbed by the knife he was carrying.

When the matter sits tomorrow Judge Thoba Poyo-dlwati will rule on an application on the admissibility of the interim protection order the wife had obtained against the accused nine days before her death.

Poyo-dlwati earlier heard testimony from a Department of Justice clerk of the court who had helped Philisiwe with her protection order at the Umbumbulu Magistrate’s Court.

Sizwe Mthalane said that in June last year Philisiwe had come to his office, which dealt with domestic violence. “She said her husband was abusing her. They were no longer sleeping in the same bedroom but lived in the same house. She said the husband was jealous and did not want her using a cellphone. She appeared afraid to go home … I was shocked to hear she had passed away.”

He said the day after he had helped the woman, she returned saying Mvubu had refused to sign the protection order.

Mthalane said the protection order document paragraphs 4 and 5 were in Philisiwe’s handwriting. In these two paragraphs, Philisiwe said she had come to court to obtain a protection order after seeing her husband boil water and she believed that he wanted to pour this water on her.

“I’m being abused by my husband. I was sleeping at night … he poured water on me, took my phone, and my work bag, and destroyed my wi-fi (router). Today he wanted to pour boiling water on me … He must leave home and find another place, I couldn’t sleep,” read the paragraphs.

Mvubu had earlier told the court that after the alleged murder he had travelled to Estcourt. He spent two days at a hostel as he did not know where his sister’s house was. He later handed himself over to police on the advice of his sister.

However, investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Sebenzokuhle Mthembu said he had phoned Mvubu’s sister, telling her that police had learnt that Mvubu was at her house in Estcourt. “I asked if she can assist and tell him to hand himself over.”