Johannesburg - Former Jozi FM DJ Donald Sebolai has blamed his girlfriend Dolly Tshabalala for her own death.
On Tuesday, under another intense cross-examination, he told the high court sitting in Palm Ridge that his girlfriend’s murder was a mistake committed by the two of them, as they were struggling over a knife.
He repeatedly told the court that he didn’t kill the 32-year-old mother-of-one. Sebolai stuck to his version that Tshabalala was stabbed when he tried to disarm her of the steak knife that penetrated her right thigh.
Tshabalala died from severe loss of blood and hypovolemic shock on June 29 last year at Sebolai’s Jabulani, Soweto, flat.
The 38-year-old is also facing additional charges of theft and defeating the ends of justice. He has pleaded not guilty.
Asked whether Tshabalala was partly to blame for her death, his response was that “she played a role”.
“You still believe it’s her fault that she did this (kill herself). That is why you didn’t hand yourself in?” State prosecutor Elize le Roux asked him.
But he disputed it.
“I will put it to you that that is why you never intended to give yourself over to the police, because you believe that it was her own fault that she died.”
Sebolai denied it.
He was asked to explain what he meant by saying “ladies will get you into trouble” in a statement he made after his arrest. “I believe that had I been alone in the flat, this incident would not have happened,” he said.
Le Roux said: “Even up to today, you are saying you believe the deceased deserved to die. You blame the deceased for your plight from the moment you got arrested.”
But Sebolai maintained his version and said he wasn’t blaming the deceased, adding: “The incident happened while we were together.”
Sebolai told the court that investigating officer Isaac Oupa Kubheka was a liar. This is because, according to Sebolai, Kubheka omitted certain versions of his statement, such as the fact that Tshabalala had tried to stab him.
He also told the court that it was difficult for him to walk to the nearest police station while he was wandering the streets of Soweto for nine days after he fled the crime scene.
It was indicated to him that the media was abuzz during his disappearance when the police were looking for him. But he said he was unaware of this until the investigating officer told the court two weeks ago.
The trial continues.
The Star