140915OPJudgment

CC113/2013-mb 3286 JUDGMENT
2014-09-11
examination and correctly recorded his findings on EXHIBIT B.
There were no admissions made in respect of count 2. In
respect of count 3 the accused admitted that a shot went off while the
firearm was in his possession. In respect of count 4 the accused made
an admission that at all times relevant to the count he had not been
issued with a license to possess .38 calibre rounds of ammunition.
I now deal with the summary of events. In respect of count 1 the
state case was that the accused and the deceased had had an
argument and that the accused had then intentionally shot and killed the
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deceased who had locked herself in the toilet. To support his case the
state called a witness – Ms Estelle van der Merwe, resident at the same
complex as the accused – who awoke a few minutes before 02:00 in the
morning to hear what she thought was a woman’s voice. To her it
sounded as if the woman was engaged in an argument with someone.
She could not however locate the voice nor tell what language was
being spoken or what was being said. Shortly after three o’clock in the
morning, she heard what she thought were gunshots.
Mr Charl Peter Johnson and Ms Michelle Burger, husband and
wife, stayed in an adjacent complex about 177 metres away from the
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house of the accused. They both heard screams that they interpreted
as those of a woman in distress. Ms Annette Stipp who stayed in the
same complex as the accused, about 80 metres away, explained that
she heard three sounds that she thought were gunshots. A few minutes
later she and her husband, Stipp, heard someone crying out loud and a
man shouting for help.
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