Friends and employees of the Mpumalanga businessman alleged stabbed to death by his lawyer wife sang outside the court, appealing for the suspect not to be given bail.
Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Team No Bail”, the group of about 30 stood outside Witbank Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning following the postponement of Itumeleng Makhalemele-Maseko’s bail application.
Makhalemele-Maseko is accused of killing her husband, socialite Caswell Maseko, on Saturday at their Merelden Estate home following a heated argument.
She allegedly stabbed him before fleeing for two days. Her car was found abandoned at a shopping mall in Pretoria. Police have yet to divulge the deceased’s injuries.
“Caswell was a good man. His employees loved him and he was kind to them. I know the suspect and the two were sincerely in love. I respected them but I feel that it would be unfair to Caswell’s family for the suspect to be given bail because of the brutal manner that Caswell was killed,” a close friend who only introduced himself as Sandile said.
The deceased owned two businesses in Witbank and had other social projects to uplift youth in the area.
The disappearance of his wife trended on social media this week with some people coming to her defence alluding that she could have been a victim of domestic abuse.
The deceased’s aunt, Gugulethu, told The Star how Saturday’s horrific incident at her nephew’s Merelden Estate had left their family in shock and had threatened to destroy relations with the family of their daughter-in-law. The couple have two children.
“We are still shocked that this thing happened. We always knew that his wife was full of anger but we didn’t think that it would go this far. They had been married for almost two years and they had their differences and fights. Sometimes she would be the first one to run to the police because her father is also a police station commander,” said the aunt.
She said at least two weeks leading to the fateful Saturday, her nephew had called her several times saying his wife was threatening to stab him but she did not take it seriously.
IOL