A Humansdorp man who has been charged with the brutal murder of his wife detailed how, in the weeks leading up to the incident, he and his wife had both successfully applied for protection orders against each other after their relationship had become filled with violent arguments.
Detailing their torrid relationship, Dene Stebuys, 42, told the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday that his wife of 16 years, Marilyn, had beaten him and on at least two occasions he had ended up in hospital.
This was after he was hit with a glass bottle on one occasion and with a spade during another fight.
Marilyn, 38, was brutally assaulted and bludgeoned to death with a rock in an open field near the Maak n Las sports centre in Humansdorp.
Stebuys has pleaded not guilty to the June 2016 murder of his wife and assault on her friend, Jonathan Gabani, who was with her at the time of her murder.
While delivering his evidence-in-chief on Monday, Stebuys said he knew his wife had been having affairs.
He had asked her to sign divorce forms – but she later begged him to take her back.
“Attempts to save our marriage did not work,” he said.
Three weeks before she was murdered, Marilyn obtained a protection order against her husband after he allegedly attacked her in the kitchen of their home.
Their son was allegedly stabbed by his father.
“There was violence [in our relationship] on certain occasions,” Stebuys said.
“[On the night of May 15 2016] we continued arguing and as she was pushing me she grabbed my private parts.
“I pushed her up against the cupboard and she staggered backwards.
“There was a fork on the kitchen table.
“She stabbed me with the fork behind my left knee,” he said.
Two days later, Marilyn obtained the protection order.
A week later, on May 25 2016, Stebuys also obtained a protection order against his wife, claiming he feared for his life after she threatened to stab him in his sleep.
Earlier in the trial, two witnesses claimed to have seen Stebuys bludgeon his wife to death with a large rock.
He denied any involvement in the murder.
“I did not hit or assault [Marilyn] whatsoever.
“I never did that [murder her],” Stebuys said.
After Stebuys finished testifying, the matter was postponed to Tuesday for cross-examination.