AP
File photo: Fed up with his naggy, clingy and irritating wife, a man has been recorded allegedly conspiring to poison her. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
KwaZulu-Natal -Fed up with his “naggy, clingy and irritating” wife, a former municipal worker allegedly conspired to murder her, only to be caught in a police trap.
The Pietermaritzburg Regional Court heard on Tuesday that Dave Allen Williams, a former Msunduzi Municipality employee, allegedly approached Xolani Madladla to kill his wife, Vino.
Madladla contacted the police and Williams was then the subject of a sting operation by members of the Organised Crime Unit.
The State alleges that Williams conspired to poison his wife between September 26 and October 4, 2011.
Williams, 51, who is out on bail of R5 000, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. He maintains that he wanted the poison to commit suicide and that at no stage did he intend to kill his wife.
Testifying on Tuesday, Madladla said that he had first met Williams and his wife at the Southgate Superspar where he had been working as a merchandiser.
“We became friends and Dave soon started calling me and telling me that he could not handle being married to his wife anymore…,” Madladla said. “He told me he wanted to get rid of his wife because she was naggy, clingy and irritating.”
Madladla told the court he became afraid of William’s constant talk about wanting to kill his wife and approached the police with his concerns.
He was then put into contact with Captain Tienie Botha of the Organised Crime Unit, who set up a trap to nab Williams.
Warrant officer Mack Makhanya, was to act as the hit man. On their instructions, Madladla said he then set up SMS contact with Williams to arrange meetings to discuss the murder plot.
“We used code in our text messages. For the word murder, we would use the word movie,” Madladla said.
On September 26, 2011, Madladla, accompanied by Makhanya (who was wearing an audio and video wire tap under his clothing) met Williams in the Makro parking lot in Pietermaritzburg where Madladla introduced Makhanya as the man who was going to kill Williams’s wife.
“Dave immediately started complaining to Makhanya about how irritating his wife was and how she controlled all his money and was ill-treating his daughter,” Madladla said.
The fee to kill Williams’s wife was set at R10 000; a R5 000 down payment and the balance on completion of the murder.
“Initially, Dave said he wanted his wife to be shot in her car as she was reversing out of her driveway, so it looked like a hijacking gone wrong, but Makhanya told him it would be too risky because their house is near the Alexandra police station and there are too many cops around,” Madladla said.
He testified that Williams then asked if poison could be used.
Makhanya said he knew how to get hold of a poison that would be untraceable in the system. On October 4, the three men met again at Makro where R3 000 in cash and fake poison pills were exchanged between Makhanya and Williams.
“Dave said that he could not get the full R5 000 because his wife controlled his money, but he assured [him] that after she died he would pay the full amount,” Madladla said.
After the exchange of money and pills, filled with castor sugar, was made, Williams was arrested.
Also testifying on Tuesday was Captain Botha, who corroborated Madladla’s version of events.
“If we did not set this trap, he would have got someone else to execute his wife,” Botha said, disputing Williams’s claim that he had wanted the poison to commit suicide.
Daily News
Originally posted here:
Man denies plot to kill ‘irritating’ wife