Johannesburg - Basemang Makwati raised his hand to get Johannesburg High Court Judge Lucy Mailula’s attention.
The judge had just granted the umpteenth postponement in the five-year and 10-month case.
“I am Sarah’s husband, the woman who Mr Seroba shot,” Makwati said from the courtroom gallery.
He was referring to Frans Seroba, 54, the man accused of murdering his own wife Refiloe, and her sister and Basemang’s wife, Sarah Makwati.
Seroba stood quietly in the dock on Monday. Makwati was about to raise a concern about how long the case has dragged on without any actual proceedings taking place - just constant postponements. But the judge stopped him before he could finish his sentence.
“I understand your concerns that the matter has been going on for long… I’m aware that it dates back to 2008, but the doctor who will be assisting the defence is unavailable today,” Judge Mailula explained.
The judge said that she had marked a final postponement for February.
Seroba, who is out on R20 000 bail, took his children to his relatives in Diepkloof, Soweto, before driving back to his house in Buccleuch, Joburg, and gunned down his wife in 2007.
He then drove to Braamfontein, where Sarah worked at a doctor’s consulting rooms, and shot her dead, too.
Seroba didn’t deny the shootings, but alleged that he wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
He was sent to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital in Krugersdorp for an evaluation.
On Monday, the two doctors who conducted the evaluation on Seroba were present before court, but could not reveal their findings until the case resumes in February.
The Star