Kimberley - Heavily pregnant and sobbing, a 29-year-old Kimberley woman, who is facing an attempted murder charge after allegedly attacking a Hadison Park man in 2014, brought court proceedings to a halt on Monday due to her “emotional state”.
The woman, Melanie Kuhn, claimed on Monday that she had suffered a miscarriage as a result of the incident.
She is facing charges, together with her boyfriend Jacobus Kruger, 28, his brother, Danie Kruger, 21, and his father, Daniel Kruger, following an attack on Dodds Pringle, during August 2014, outside the former Shadows Pub and Grill in Hadison Park.
Pringle sustained eight stab wounds after allegedly being attacked by the four accused.
According to the State, Pringle, whose house is situated across from the Shadows Pub property, confronted the four, who were “making a noise and kicking his fence”, and Kuhn apparently “started the fight” by pushing Pringle to the ground in his yard, following which the three men allegedly pounced on him and joined her in assaulting the father of two.
However, a heavily pregnant Kuhn told the court on Monday that Pringle had “pushed her away” first and then “tried to trip her”. She said that she had grabbed onto him and pulled him to the ground with her as she fell, while she was only “trying to calm the situation”.
During her testimony, Kuhn said that when she exited Shadows Pub, she saw Pringle in the road and heard an argument.
“I was not sure what was happening but I asked them to stop (arguing) so we could leave. Pringle was walking across the road and pushed me away, while he kept shouting and arguing with Jacobus. I went closer to calm the situation and said ‘please leave it, we are leaving’.
“Pringle then put his one leg behind mine and tried to pull my legs out from under me. I felt that I was falling and grabbed onto him to avoid falling, and pulled him down with me,” Kuhn stated.
She added that she was four weeks pregnant at the time and lost the baby about a week after the incident.
“While I have no evidence to indicate the cause for the miscarriage I have papers from the doctor and hard falls and stress are known to cause miscarriages,” she said.
Kuhn further denied seeing or participating in any fighting or stabbing during the incident, as alleged by the State.
The State prosecutor, however, rejected Kuhn’s version (of grabbing onto Pringle to try and prevent herself from falling) as a falsification that “was never put to Pringle during cross-examination”.
Danie Kruger also took the witness stand on Monday and said that he was at Shadows Pub with his family, drinking brandy and playing pool, before going outside with his father to check on their vehicle.
“As we were standing at the vehicle, we heard Pringle shouting and swearing, saying that we were making a noise. He insisted that we go somewhere else. Pringle opened his gate and walked into the middle of the road and had a quarrel with my brother. I said just to ‘leave it’.
“I then heard Melanie screaming ‘eina’ and when I looked, I saw Pringle on top of Melanie. Jaco ran towards them and pushed Pringle off her. After I helped Melanie to the car, I went back to Pringle and my brother to try and separate them. Pringle then hit me in the face with a fist. Thereafter we got in the car and, with Melanie driving, we went home,” Danie Kruger stated.
When asked by the State prosecutor how Pringle could have sustained his injuries, he simply answered that he “did not know”.
The prosecutor also put it to him that Kuhn “led the charge” (against Pringle) and that the others then followed.
Daniel Kruger on Monday also testified in his defence but was interrupted when Kuhn started sobbing uncontrollably in the accused bench.
Magistrate Martha Ditse then postponed the matter to next year, after the four accused’s legal representative, Rick Ishmail, indicated that Kuhn was “pregnant and emotional” and would not be able to continue to attend Monday’s proceedings.