Lowveld murder: Mpumalanga court postpones case again
The murder case against Sonell Joubert (43), who is accused of fatally stabbing Jurgens Nel at Lowhills Farm in the Nkomazi Region, Mpumalanga, early in February, has been postponed to June 26.
Joubert was denied bail on February 24, after changing lawyers and submitting two supplementary affidavits in her intention to secure bail.
Mpumalanga News reports that at a brief appearance in the Tonga Magistrate's Court today, the court heard that the investigation was finalised and the post-mortem results were available. Joubert was remanded in custody for her docket to be sent to a senior public prosecutor for a decision.
The accused had approached the KwaMhlushwa police on February 1, and claimed that Nel had violated the protection order she had against him.
Later that night, two police officers went to the farm to attended to the complaint, but did not speak to Nel, as Joubert and her life partner, Johann Möller, told them that he had locked himself in the house and was armed and aggressive. The police left the scene.
On February 3, Nguyuza and seven other police members went to Lowhills Farm to look for Nel, only to find him dead with six stab wounds to his upper body. When asked what had happened, Joubert told Nguyuza that she and Nel had had a fight in which she stabbed him with a knife.
Joubert was arrested on February 4 after going to the KwaMhlushwa Police Station to provide the investigating officer with a statement.
'When hearing her case, the court found it strange that, during the fight, Joubert had only sustained a small cut below her left eye and on one of her left fingers. Nguyuza told the court that he believed that, although he found the body on Monday, February 3, Nel might have been killed two days prior. It was also revealed that the murder weapon has not been found, resulting in Nguyuza saying Joubert could, therefore, not to be trusted.
During today's court appearance, the accused was represented by a new lawyer, Advocate Hennie van Rensburg after her previous lawyer, Marco Lamberti, withdrew from the case because he was not paid for his services.
'I was promised payment after being required to attend the last court appearance, and met with the accused's brother after court. I spent the next two days drafting an appeal but never filed same, as I had not been paid as promised,' Lamberti told Lowvelder after being asked why he was no longer representing Joubert.
During the judgment of her bail application, the court heard that she no longer had a residential address, was a flight risk and could interfere with witnesses.
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