Johannesburg - Murder accused Sindisiwe Manqele told the High Court sitting in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday that she did not intend to kill her lover, hip hop artist Nkululeko “Flabba” Habedi when she stabbed him with a knife.
“I just wanted to get him away from me,” Manqele, 26, said.
“I didn’t want him lifeless on the floor.”
Manqele’s lawyer Norman Makhubela asked her if she recalled saying that she never meant to stab Habedi and that it was a mistake.
“Yes I do,” replied Manqele.
State prosecutor Paul Schutter began his cross examination by asking Manqele about the history of her relationship with Habedi, who was 38 years old when he died in March.
“We were serious from 2013,” Manqele said. She said they planned to get married.
“He wanted to pay lobola this June,” Manqele said.
Schutter asked Manqele if she agreed that Habedi was a “fun person” who liked telling jokes and that he was not aggressive.
“Yes, he was,” Manqele said. “ He was never aggressive, except that night.”
Manqele said that the messages she saw on Habedi’s cellphone showed that he was having sexual relations with other women. She said her lover Habedi had sexual relations with three other females.
“I was angry and upset… I was worried that I could catch something because I slept with him without protection,” Manqele said.
“I rang him and asked him who that person was on the messages and he said he didn’t know.”
Earlier, Makhubela, handed in the medical report, compiled by a prison doctor and used at her bail application. It also contained pictures of injuries Manqele sustained on the night in question.
Acting Judge Solly Sithole said the pictures presented to him showed six scars on Manqele’s stomach.
“One looks old and the five others look fresher,” Sithole said.
Manqele told the court that she didn’t know how much blood she lost.
“I just had blood all over me, I wasn’t sure where the blood was coming from,” Manqele said.
Makhubela asked Manqele what she thought when she saw Habedi enter the room with a knife.
“I presumed that he was trying to open the door with the knife,” Manqele said.
Manqele said she told the investigation officer that she wanted a lawyer present before giving her statement, but answered questions put to her regardless because she didn’t know the legal procedures.
Manqele said the investigation officer asked her what was wrong with her leg because she was limping.
Earlier in the case the investigation officer, Seila Shadrick Malaka, denied seeing Manqele limping.
Manqele stated that she told Malaka about her wrist and stomach injuries.
Manqele is accused of murdering Habedi at his home in Alexandra on March 9.
On Wednesday, Manqele detailed the dramatic moments that led up to the fatal stabbing of her lover.
“He was shaking me, and I kept on asking him to leave me, and in the process of him shaking me I pushed and stabbed him to get to the door,” Manqele said at the time.
ANA