Mom who allegedly gunned down husband sent for evaluation

A woman who had allegedly killed her husband and then made it look like a robbery, was referred to Weskoppies Hospital for mental observation. Picture: Zelda Venter

A woman who had allegedly killed her husband and then made it look like a robbery, was referred to Weskoppies Hospital for mental observation. Picture: Zelda Venter

Published Feb 26, 2018

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Pretoria - A woman who had allegedly shot her husband through the head while he was watching television and then made it look like a robbery, was referred to Weskoppies Hospital, west of Pretoria, for mental observation after it came to light that she wanted to plead “temporary insanity”. 

Cathy van Oudtshoorn, 30, allegedly murdered her husband on the evening of April 11, 2016, in their Brakpan home. 

Her mother, Johanna (Jorine) van Niekerk, earlier pleaded guilty as an accessory to murder, after she admitted that she knew about the murder plans and assisted her daughter in lying to the police afterwards.

The mother said after the killing, she and her daughter made statements to the police that someone had broken into their home and killed Van Oudtshoorn. Van Niekerk was sentenced to five years imprisonment in terms of a section of law where she only had to serve 10 months, before she was released on correctional supervision (house arrest).

According to the mother her daughter paid two men a total of R2 500 to kill her husband, with the promise of more money. She said her daughter then decided to kill her husband herself.

The mother agreed to take the stand against Van Oudtshoorn. Their trials were separated and the daughter’s case was due to be heard on Monday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.

Prosecutor David Broughton, however, told Judge Bert Bam that in light of Van Oudtshoorn now wanting to plead temporary insanity, it was best that she be psychologically evaluated and thus go to the mental institution for observation. 

It also came to light that Van Oudtshoorn is about six months pregnant with twins.

Judge Bam questioned why she only now indicated that she was going to plead temporary insanity. He also warned her that he was not going to allow her to stall the murder trial.

The judge made it clear that there was no reason why a pregnant woman could not face her trial.

Judge Bam further warned her that if she was unnecessary delaying her trial, he would take the “drastic step”  to revoke her bail. The matter was postponed to July 30, although Van Oudtshoorn was due to deliver her twins around the end of June.

Van Niekerk, during her trial, said in a statement that that her daughter fetched her in April 2016, to come and visit her and her husband. 

“She told me she wanted to kill the deceased. I told her to think carefully about it.’ 

The mother said on the day of the incident she went to a mall with her daughter, where the latter spoke to two men.

“She requested them to kill the deceased for an amount of R2 500. One said that was too little and he wanted R5 000. She then gave them R2 500 and said she was going to give them the remaining amount after they had killed the deceased.” 

Van Niekerk said her daughter took the men to her house to show them where her husband normally sat in the evenings.

According to her her daughter cooked for her husband and served him his food that night. “She told me if the two gentlemen are not going to do it (murder)  she will do it herself. I told her she must not do it, but rather divorce him instead.” 

Van Niekerk said she went outside at a stage to speak to her husband over the phone. “I heard a loud bang. My daughter called me and said I should drive her to the garage to put petrol in the car. She then told me she killed the deceased…” 

Van Niekerk said when they got home, her daughter told her to help her take things out of the cupboard and throw them on the floor, so that it looked like they were robbed while they went to the petrol station. 

The mother said she assisted and when the police arrived, she lied and told them that they had  been robbed. 

“I am sincerely remorseful and beg for forgiveness from this court, the deceased’s family and the community,” Van Niekerk said in her statement.

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Pretoria News

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