Cape Town - The trial of Babsy Ntamehlo, accused of killing his wife and burying her remains in a shallow grave, is in its final stages in the Western Cape High Court.
Ntamehlo, 42, is charged with the murder of 35-year-old mother Nosicelo Tsipa who was strangled to death on September 6, 2020.
Ntamehlo was arrested after Tsipa’s partially charred body was discovered in the grave.
He pleaded not guilty to the allegations and defended his plea while being cross-examined by State advocate Megan September.
At the time of her death, Tsipa had a protection order against Ntamehlo.
Tsipa’s family have said that her death could have been prevented if the protection order had been followed up by police.
Bringing life to Tsipa’s words, September quoted from affidavits used to obtain the first protection order and questioned Ntamehlo about the supposed danger he posed to Tsipa in their marriage.
“She makes the effort, she goes to court and she says ‘please help me, because I’m afraid for my life … ’ – what do you say to the fact that your wife states here that she is so afraid for her life?” September asked.
Ntamehlo said, “I don’t think she was afraid for her life.
“All of these things that is written here, I would never do that.”
September said, “She also stated here, ‘he can kill me’.”
She continued: “In other words, you can kill her because you don’t want her anymore.”
Ntamehlo responded: “That’s what surprises me the most because when she said that we’d get back together, she would change.”
September said the order in September 2019 was granted with the condition that Ntamehlo not assault or threaten Tsipa.
“Do you agree with me that the complainant was in clear need of protection against violence that has been carried out against her and violence coming from you?”
His responded: “I do not agree with that because there was nothing that needed protection, or she didn’t need protection, because there was nothing that was happening in the house.”
He further denied Tsipa’s claims of domestic violence for a second protection order where she again approached the courts in August 2020, weeks before she was killed.