Johannesburg - “If you want to kill me, you can kill me.” These words were repeatedly said by Dolly Tshabalala, the slain ex-girlfriend of Jozi FM DJ Donald Sebolai, a few days before he allegedly killed her.
Sebolai had arrived at Tshabalala’s home, where she lived with her mother Elizabeth Marawa, in the early hours one Sunday morning in June last year. According to Marawa, Sebolai arrived between 2am and 3.30am, looking for Tshabalala.
“I heard a knock on the front door. While I was listening, I told myself I was not going to open. I then heard Dolly talking. I then woke up to see who she was talking to,” said Marawa.
She said that when she went to the door, she found the couple. Her daughter introduced her to Sebolai. This was their first time meeting, but her daughter had previously told her about the love affair.
Marawa said Sebolai was holding a carton of milk. He had thrown it at Tshabalala and the floor was wet. Marawa, who was upset at the time, told the court she had reprimanded Sebolai.
“I asked him: ‘Why are you doing this to my daughter?’ I instructed him that this was my house and not Dolly’s. I asked him if Dolly had not told him that she was married even though she was separated from her husband. Not even my son-in-law came knocking at this hour. I told him he was disrespecting my house, “ Marawa told the court.
She said Sebolai never responded. Marawa then went back into the house, leaving Tshabalala and Sebolai, who was standing at the gate.
Marawa said that while inside the house, she heard her daughter repeatedly saying to Sebolai, “If you want to kill me , you can kill me. I don’t care!”
In the morning, Marawa woke up and left for church, leaving Tshabalala behind.
Asked by prosecutor Elize le Roux how she knew Sebolai, Marawa said she knew him from his shows on Jozi FM, which she usually listened to.
Her daughter also told her about him. Marawa said she listened to Sebolai’s shows focusing mostly on woman and child abuse.
While giving testimony, people in the public gallery who had arrived to support Tshabalala’s family began sobbing. Some had to be escorted out of the court.
The couple had been in a relationship for at least seven months, according to Marawa.
The State alleges that Sebolai and the deceased had an argument, during which the accused stabbed Tshabalala with a knife. It is alleged that Sebolai then cleaned the floor, threw bloodied clothing into the outside dustbin, packed his belongings and the knife in her car, and fled.
Tshabalala died from a wound in the right thigh that led to severe blood loss and hypovolemic shock.
The trial continues.
The Star