DAILY VOICE

Nell-Marie Cooke leaves the Worcester Magistrates Court.

A Western Cape woman is accused of hiring hitmen to murder her estranged husband.

But her husband’s life was spared after he discovered a letter to his wife from his would-be-killers demanding payment.

On Tuesday, details of the story emerged as Nell-Marie Cooke, 30, appeared in court.

It comes after she was arrested late last week and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Now the men she allegedly hired to kill her husband Martin have turned State witness against her.

But despite the serious charges against her, Cooke was freed on bail after her first appearance at Worcester Magistrates’ Court.

She laughed and joked with her lawyer as she was given R5 000 bail.

If Cooke is found guilty, the case will bear striking similarities to that of Najwa Petersen who infamously hired four hitmen to murder her legendary musician husband Taliep Petersen.

In the case of the Cooke family, this charge came about as the result of a bitter battle about the maintenance and custody of the couple’s two kids.

The court heard that Martin last week came across a note in the postbox outside his wife’s home in Sutherland Street, Worcester.

The stunned father of two could not believe his eyes when, in the note, he discovered an alleged local gang member was demanding money in exchange for killing him.

Martin then tracked down the sender of the note and the man allegedly admitted Nell-Marie had approached him and asked him to murder her husband.

In court on Tuesday, the slender, dark-haired woman was dressed in a purple T-shirt and jeans when she attended her bail application.

Investigating officer Warrant Officer Deon Daames urged the judge not to free the defendant, claiming her husband’s life was still in danger.

He said although the accused would still be able to organise a hit on her estranged husband from her jail cell, it would be harder for her to have access to money.

Daames also told the court that outstanding cellphone records could show Cooke remained in contact with the assassins-turned-State witnesses.

But Cooke’s attorney Sakkie Krouwkam insisted she was not a flight risk because she has two children to care for.

Krouwkam also told the court that Martin and Cooke were due to appear in court a day before her arrest for a request to have their kids’ monthly maintenance slashed from R3 000 to R500 each.

“This (Nell-Marie’s arrest) is the ideal opportunity to evade that problem,” he says.

During her bail application, Cooke also admitted she is currently being investigated for two separate cases of fraud.

But she denied ever colluding with the State witnesses to have her husband murdered.

She claims she obtained an interdict against her husband which prevented him from coming near her home.

And she says he was only allowed to come up as far as her driveway when he was picking up their three- and five-year-old children.

Relations between the warring couple broke down after bitter rows over the custody of their kids.

“I told him 50-50, but he wants full custody,” Cooke told the court.

The accused woman was freed on R5 000 bail after her lawyer argued Cooke would lose custody of her kids if she was put in jail.

The case is due to come before the courts again later this month.

*This article was published in the Daily Voice