WINDHOEK – The confession made by alleged wife killer David de Jay was introduced as evidence in the trial in the Windhoek High Court in which he is accused of stabbing his wife to death.
De Jay initially made the confession before Keetmanshoop magistrate Philanda Blockstein-Christiaans in Keetmanshoop a month after his arrest for the killing of his wife Tina de Jay on February 13, 2009, where he gave an account of a woman obsessed with killing herself.
He said after his wife became sick she hatched a plan to have herself killed by two men she hired. “My wife became very depressive on an extreme basis and suffered from severe stress, as a result of her work situation with Metropolitan her employer (sic),” he had said.
He stated, “As she wanted to go off as medically unfit and the observations from the specialist, and it was stressful as she worked on a commission basis sic).”
According to De Jay that was when his wife started with talk that she did not want to live anymore and became suicidal.
He said that during 2008 when she was at home with ill health she started a routine where she would study the Bible, complaining about pain in the stomach and cry the whole day.
He stated that the last blow for his wife was when she learnt that her eldest daughter was diagnosed with blood cancer (leukemia) and she became even more depressed and did not want to live anymore.
He had further told the magistrate that his wife was a total wreck and only talked about going to heaven.
De Jay further went on to say that one evening in 2009 while on an outing he saw his wife talking to two men.
As it was the nature of her work to talk to people he did not take notice at first, he said, but when he saw one of the men giving his wife his phone number he asked her who the men were and she replied ‘hierdie is dodelike kontakte’ (they are deadly contacts).
According to the statement he also overheard the man telling his wife not to call him from her cellphone or landline, but to use a telephone booth. He also told the magistrate that at one stage he found his wife on the floor of their house after she overdosed on tablets that were prescribed to her.
According to him he induced vomiting in her by giving her salt water and milk to drink, but that she refused that he call a doctor or take her to hospital. He further said that his wife asked him to withdraw N$1 000 from the bank and when he asked her what the money was for she replied ‘dit is vir my weldoeners’ (it is for my benefactors).
He said that after that his wife became worse and always said to him, ‘Papa let’s go to heaven, you and me together.’
At some stage he made a suggestion that they gas themselves, but this wife refused as gas made her nauseous and that was when she told him that she had already arranged something for herself.
His wife told him that they should go on a picnic at the Fish River and take their cutlery along including a set of knifes.
De Jay says his wife told him that she would need another N$1 000 to take with her. “I was very nervous, I bought a half bottle of brandy and some beers and finished it before we went to the Fish River.”
After they finished a pizza his wife said that she wanted to drink her juice in the car and as he was tired he laid with his head on his hands and that was when he heard a car driving away.
“When I looked up, my wife was lying next to the car, saying ‘David can you help me.’ I struggled to get her into the car and I looked for help at the side of the road,” he told the Windhoek High Court.
According to De Jay he took the knife out of his wife’s chest and only after realising that his fingerprints were on it did he decide to throw it away as he was panicking at that stage.
He further told the magistrate that he do not know who stabbed his wife, but he is sure that she knew the one guy. “It is difficult to say whether I am guilty or not, as firstly I knew what my wife planned, secondly I pulled the knife out of her chest, thirdly I removed her body from the scene of crime,” he said and continued, “I am not a murderer.”
After De Jay’s statement was read, the investigating officer, Detective Inspector Theodore Kutongondo took the stand and told the court that there was a protection order out against De Jay by his wife and further investigations revealed he was the sole beneficiary of two life insurance policies worth N$300 000.
He is accused of the murder of his wife Tina de Jay, by fatally stabbing her with a knife near Seeheim, south-west of Keetmanshoop on February 13 2009.
By Roland Routh