Blood-soaked clothes, conflicting timelines and altering his evidence while his trial progressed saw a Humansdorp man accused of bludgeoning his wife to death with a rock being found guilty on Monday.
In a scathing judgment in the Port Elizabeth High Court, judge Irma Schoeman said the state had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Dene Stebuys, 42, had murdered his wife, Marilyn, on June 5 2016.
He was found guilty on charges of murder with direct intent, assault and contravening a protection order.
Stebuys was further found guilty of assaulting Marilyn, 38, their teenage son, and Marilyn’s friend, Jonathan Gabani.
Schoeman said evidence presented by the state and testimony by Stebuys and his family showed he had altered his version of events as the trial continued, especially in respect of what his movements were on the day of the murder.
“[Stebuys] was a bad witness who changed his version as the trial progressed,” Schoeman said.
“He contradicted himself, as well as the versions of witnesses put to him.
“Timelines by Stebuys, [his father and brother] differed like chalk and cheese.”
Schoeman found the state had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that Stebuys had beaten his wife of 16 years to death with a rock in an open field near the Maak n Las sports centre in Humansdorp.
Two witnesses, who are not being named as they are minors and under witness protection, who alleged they had seen Stebuys beating Marilyn with a rock at around 5pm on June 5, added credibility to the state’s case but their dock identification of Stebuys was dismissed by Schoeman.
Stebuys claimed that on the day of the murder he had seen Marilyn in the company of Gabani, with whom Stebuys accused her of having an affair.
He claimed there was an altercation between him and Gabani and in the process Marilyn was hit on her nose, which started bleeding.
In his testimony, Gabani denied this, claiming Stebuys slapped him with an open hand while Marilyn sat on the ground nearby.
Gabani alleged that Marilyn was so intoxicated she was unable to walk or talk properly.
Stebuys claimed he and Marilyn then walked home but soon afterwards she left again.
Stebuys’s bloodied shirt and jacket were found at the house when police searched the home after finding Marilyn’s bloodied cellphone in Stebuys’s car which was parked near the field where she was murdered.
Schoeman said the testimony by Stebuys’s father and brother about the times he was allegedly at their homes on the day of the murder contradicted Stebuys’s evidence.
A mere three weeks before the murder, Marilyn obtained a protection order against Stebuys after he assaulted her and their son.
The next day, Stebuys also got one against her.
It emerged further during the trial that, in 2013, Marilyn had opened a case of indecent assault against Stebuys’s father for allegedly sexually assaulting a young girl.
After handing down judgment, Schoeman asked state prosecutor advocate Ishmet Cerfontein to obtain the court records relating to the 2013 incident, as it seemed it was since then that relations between the couple had soured.
The state had asked the court to convict Stebuys on a charge of premeditated murder, but Schoeman convicted him on a charge of murder with direct intent instead.
Sentencing proceedings are expected to start on Tuesday.