A Dutch woman who with her lover faces a murder charge in connection with the death of her husband Gerrit Klip, on Monday told the court that it was her idea to get rid of the body.
The lovers, former police detective Roger Jones, and Klip’swidow Leonore Klip van As, applied for bail before Errol Poggenpoel in the Somerset West Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Klip died on June 30, after a violent struggle with Jones in the cellar of Klip van As’ Somerset West home.
Klip van As testified on Monday that it had been her decision to try to conceal her and Jones’ involvement in her husband’s death.
She decided to dispose of the body because she felt that no one would believe Jones had acted in self defence.
The hearing was delayed for three hours after Klip van As consulted with her defence counsel Louis van Wyk.
She testified that she cleaned the cellar after the killing because Jones had been left in a state of shock.
Together they had loaded her husband’s body into his own car, which Jones drove to an area between Gordon’s Bay and Rooi Els.
Klip van As had followed in another car.
She also recalled how Jones had ”lost his senses”, and had tried to push in her husband’s eyes.
The Dutch woman told the court that the she had arranged a meeting with her estranged husband to discuss their divorce settlement. Jones had been asked to join her.
The husband arrived around 7pm and was expecting to meet up with his own lover for dinner later that night.
Klip van As told the court: ”When he arrived, I went upstairs to fetch documents and I told my husband I wanted to introduce him to someone (Jones).
”My husband ignored me, and did not seem interested in meeting anyone.”
She said she took medication to calm her down, before hearing ”noise, shouting and things breaking” in the cellar below.
She said Jones called her, and she found him traumatised and in a state of shock.
At one stage, Jones said her husband had died, and she told him to cover her husband’s face.
She added: ”No one knew what to do — Jones was shaking and crying, and I gave him calming medicine, and started cleaning up.”
Last week, Jones told the court Klip had started the scuffle by pushing him around and swearing at him. Jones claimed that he had acted in self defence.
He also admitted under duress that the couple had sex ”two or three times.”
The hearing continues on Tuesday. – Sapa