Hendrika Coetzee's paraplegic boyfriend apparently didn't fry eggs to her taste, and so she stabbed him with a knife in the heart.
On Monday, the Pretoria regional court found the 51-year-old woman guilty of the murder of Gavin James.
Earlier, she claimed she was merely bending down to pour herself a beer when a lodger, Daniel Nel, informed her that James was bleeding.
Suggesting that Nel might have been the murderer and claiming she was drunk, Coetzee said Nel and James fought earlier that day about money Nel owed James.
However, Nel said James prepared food for Coetzee and then sat in front of her in his wheelchair. Coetzee was angry because her eggs were either too soft or too hard - Nel couldn't remember which.
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She then stood halfway up, leant forward and stabbed James with the knife she had been eating with.
In an attempt to help, Nel pulled out the knife and tried to get James out of the house.
As he himself has only one leg, he struggled to push the wheelchair as James fell off.
A neighbour then called police.
Magistrate Kallie Bosch took into account that alcohol played a role that day, and noted that Nel made a good impression.
"He created the impression of someone who came to court to tell the truth and did just that," he said.
Coetzee, on the other hand, appeared not to be telling the whole truth, pretending not to have seen something a metre away from her.
She has two previous convictions for theft, and was paroled for the last one in January 1995.
Coetzee's bail was withdrawn on Monday and the case was postponed to November 21 for a probation officer's report.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on October 16, 2007
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