Durban - The unbearable smell of a “dead rat” was in fact the decomposing body of a man’s girlfriend, whom he had killed a week earlier with a hammer and a knife.
Tjakke Wilco Wilkens, who pleaded guilty to murder in the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday, admitted that he had not known what to do with Sharon Sudding’s body on the day he killed her on September 19.
In his statement that was read to the court, Wilkens said that he had been in an abusive four-and-a-half year relationship with Sudding. It had been a relationship in which he said he was constantly “under pressure and emotionally downtrodden”.
The two had lived in the one-room servant’s quarters at the rear of his employer’s house, for whom he worked as an auto electrician.
“She also attacked me on several occasions, breaking my ribs and my nose before. Before this (the day of the murder) I had never raised a hand to her.”
Wilkens said that she had manipulated him so much that he had been incapable of leaving her, but on the morning of September 19 it all came to a brutal end.
He had woke up in the morning and made her a cup of tea before heading to work.
“She took a sip and then threw the cup of tea at me. I am not an aggressive person, but at that moment I totally lost it. It was a lot of pain and fear that just came up.”
It was then that he grabbed a hammer and took an almighty swing, before picking up a knife and stabbing her several times.
“It went very quiet and I knew I had done wrong. I picked her up and put her on the bed, covering her with a blanket.”
He then left the servant’s quarters, in which he and Sudding lived, to go to work.
“I didn’t know what to do with the body and it lay there for about a week,” said Wilkens, who claimed he was about to give himself up when he was arrested on September 28 - eight days after Sudding was killed.
Wilkens was arrested after his employer alerted police to the unbearable smell emanating from the servant’s quarters.
Four days prior to his arrest, the employer, said in an affidavit that: “Whilst I was at home, I got a nasty smell from the maid’s quarters. I then approached Willie (Wilkens) outside his door and enquired about the smell. He stated the smell must have been a dead rat.”
Wilkins promised to sort it out. But the smell did not go away. It became worse.
“On Sunday at about 8.30 the smell became unbearable. I approached Willie again and he stated he would definitely clean up and get rid of the dead rat.”
However, Wilkens simply hopped in his car and drove off, arousing the suspicions of the employer who decided all was not right and called the police.
After giving them permission to break down the door, Sudding’s decomposing body was found.
Wilkens was arrested at his brother’s house.
He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, but not before Magistrate Nanette Otto said: “You could have ended the relationship. It (the abuse) is not a reason to take a life.”
African News Agency