Durban — The Durban High Court has ruled that the confession and pointing out by an accused in the murder of a Newlands East man who was allegedly killed by his wife, her lesbian lover as well and her friend is inadmissible and is not permitted in the trial.
The trial into the murder of Mark Buttle got under way on 6 November. However when the State introduced a statement on the confession and pointing out by one of the two accused the defence opposed and a trial-within-a trial got under way.
This was for the court to determine the admissibility of the evidence on grounds that the accused was under undue influence at that time of making the confession and pointing out.
Buttle’s wife, Analidia Dias Bella Dosantos, and her friend, Charmaine Margaret Khumalo, are in the dock without Dosantos’s lover, Teagan Allison Brown, who died in July ahead of the trial starting.
The three are alleged to have hatched and executed a plan to kill Dosantos’s husband. It's alleged that an insurance policy is alleged to be the motive behind the murder coupled with that Dosantos, 41, was alleged to have been having an affair with Brown,25.
Buttle was stabbed allegedly by the three women while in his car after he had allegedly been lured to the scene by Dosantos under the pretext of working through marital issues.
It’s alleged that Dosantos moved out of the couple’s home in 2017 as her marriage was on the rocks and she was already having an affair with Brown, who she moved in with.
The State alleges that Buttler, who had been gainfully employed during the marriage, had acquired life insurance policies in which Dosantos was the beneficiary, adding that she had allegedly been aware of at least one.
The two lovers are alleged to have plotted to kill Buttle so that Dosantos could collect his life insurance policy.
In January 2018 it was alleged that Dosantos moved back in with her husband and Brown moved into another home next door to Khumalo’s place, who she allegedly knew.
The State alleges that the women conspired with one Sibusiso to execute their plan.
Not long after the plan was hatched it is alleged that on the evening of February 25, 2018, Buttle was himself stabbed multiple times in his neck allegedly by Dosantos, Brown and Khumalo,45, while in his parked vehicle in an open area in Ferndale.
Over the murder charge Dosantos and Khumalo also face a theft charge as well as defeating the administration of justice.
The State alleges that on February 26 2018 with the intent to defeat or obstruct the course of justice Buttle and Dosantos reported that they had been victims of a hijacking when in fact the accused had allegedly killed Buttle.
The trial continues on Thursday.
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