Johannesburg - Radio DJ Donald Sebolai pleaded not guilty to the murder of his girlfriend Dolly Tshabalala when he appeared in the Protea Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
“I plead not guilty to the charge,” he told the court.
The 37-year-old presenter at Soweto-based community radio station, Jozi FM, is applying for bail.
He told the court he was a father of three children from different mothers. The children lived with their mothers.
Sebolai is accused of murdering his 32-year-old girlfriend Tshabalala last month. She was stabbed several times and left in a locked flat in Jabulani, Soweto, on June 29.
Sebolai, who had been on the run for over a week, apparently phoned her friend and confessed to killing her, police said at the time.
Ealier neighbours and relatives of Tshabalala called for her alleged killer to be denied bail.
“I am here as a neighbour and a mother. We don't want him to get bail. The whole of Rockville and Soweto is in pain because of him,” Dimakatso Bonco, a neighbour of the Tshabalala family, said at the court.
She was shocked by the manner in which she died.
“It is terrible. He must stay in jail.”
The group arrived in a minibus and held placards outside the court.
The placards read: “No bail for a murderer, Donald must rot in jail” and “I hate you, you are a killer Donald”. - Sapa