Suspended magistrate Mxolisi Matereke (42) broke down in the witness box while applying for bail in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Matereke broke down in the witness box as he told the court he was absolutely ”shattered” when he heard that Vika Ngcobo (51) whom he personally took to hospital on the afternoon of August 18, was dead, and that police had opened a murder docket and intended to arrest him.
Matereke told the court he had heard nothing from his wife since he was arrested after handing himself over to the police, accompanied by his attorney Tyron Azar.
He had, however, heard via the grapevine that his wife, also a justice department employee, had gained access in his absence to the communal home in Meredale, south of Johannesburg, had packed her possessions and left.
”We are not divorced yet,” he said as he agreed to an admission from prosecutor George Baloyi that his wife might be called as a witness against him.
The court heard that the wife was not the mother of Matereke’s three children. Each one had a different mother.
Regarding the August 18 incident, Matereke said his firearm was not locked in the safe. It was under a pillow in the bedroom. He said he did not wish to comment further except to say that Ngcobo, as an independent person, had arrived to mediate in the marital problems and that Ngcobo accompanied Matereke into the bedroom to speak to the wife.
Two shots were fired and Ngcobo was rushed to hospital with a fatal bullet wound. Matereke admitted that the shots were fired from his own gun.
Defence attorney Tyron Azar informed the court that on April 17 this year, charges of kidnapping and murder were withdrawn against Matereke and the co-accused in the Protea Court in Soweto and that an inspector Maluleka was now at court with a warrant of arrest for the same case and that he (Azar) had just received a copy of documentation for a High Court trial for next year against Matereke.
Matereke told the court he would ask his attorney to apply to have the charges quashed as the indictment contained only the facts which were known at the time the charges were previously withdrawn.
Matereke said regarding the marriage: ”I feel that it is obviously on the rocks.” If granted bail he had no objection to refraining from contacting his wife, who was not injured during the incident, either directly or indirectly.
He remains in custody overnight at the Sophiatown cells and the bail application continues on Friday. – Sapa