Durban — Evidence that the lesbian lover of a wife on trial for the murder of her husband arrived on the doorstep of another woman after midnight with bloodied clothes, accompanied by her friend who is also an accused in the case, will not form part of the evidence in the main trial.
This is because the Durban High Court on Thursday ruled that the statement containing this evidence from a woman who has since died will not be admitted into the main trial.
Mark Buttle was stabbed multiple times in the neck in 2018 while in his car in Newlands East, allegedly by his wife Analidia Dias Bella Dosantos, her lover Teagan Allison Brown, and the women’s friend, Charmaine Margaret Khumalo.
The three are alleged to have hatched and executed a plan to kill Dosantos’s husband so she could cash in an insurance policy. Dosantos, 41, was alleged to have been having an affair with Brown, 25.
Brown died in July. The trial began early this month.
On Thursday in the second trial within a trial, acting Judge Murray Pitman ruled that a statement made by Inga Ogle to police was inadmissible.
On Wednesday, the court ruled that a confession and pointing out by Khumalo was inadmissible and could not be used in the main trial.
State prosecutor Khatija Essack moved to submit as evidence a statement by Inga Ogle, who has since died.
However, Dosantos’s defence counsel, W Zama, and Khumalo’s Legal Aid attorney, Musa Chiliza, objected on the grounds that Ogle could not be cross-examined on the evidence, spinning the trial into a second trial within a trial.
Ogle was married to the daughter of a State witness, Shareen Ogle, who is Khumalo’s ex-lover.
On the stand, Warrant Officer Andre Moses, who took Ogle’s statement, said that at the time the woman lived three to four kilometres from where Buttle’s car was found.
“Inga said it was after midnight and she was at her home alone when she heard a knock at the door. It was accused one (Khumalo) and she was with Teagan. She said they were both bloodied. Inga was shocked and Khumalo and Brown forced themselves into her house wanting to bathe. Khumalo told her they had stabbed someone,” said Moses.
He said he was told that once inside the house the two women cleaned themselves and Ogle provided them with clean clothes.
“Inga said accused one asked her to take them home where accused one and two lived. Khumalo told Inga that she, Teagan, and Dosantos stabbed someone.”
Ogle said while she was driving the two women to their home they asked her to stop.
“Inga said the two went behind a tree and were talking and she could not see what they were doing nor could she hear what they were saying. They then got back into the car and they told her not to take them home anymore but back to Inga’s home, which she did … A day or two later via social media she learnt about Mark Buttle’s stabbing and knew they could be involved,” said Moses.
“She told Khumalo to report the incident to police, adding that if she wanted someone to go with her she would do that. However, accused one told Inga not to tell anyone about this because Teagan’s dad knows people in high places and they can make her disappear.”
The State, which has led evidence of other witnesses as well as cellphone evidence, rested its case. When the trial continues on Monday, Khumalo is expected to testify.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News