Husband pleads not guilty

Nearly three years after Soneé Witbooi (28) was brutally killed in her Loerie Park home, her husband, Rodney Witbooi (34), appeared in the George Circuit High Court this week, pleading not guilty to her murder and nine other charges.

- Kristy Kolberg

On Monday 20 October, Witbooi pleaded not guilty to 10 of the 12 charges against him, including murder, attempted murder, common assault, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and housebreaking, as well as a previous case of attempted rape, when he had been arrested for an unrelated 2020 incident in which he allegedly attacked and attempted to rape a woman outside a nightclub in Pacaltsdorp.

Witbooi pleaded guilty only to two drug-related charges.

Witbooi, who has been in custody since his arrest on the scene on 21 December 2022, allegedly killed Soneé at their home in Boekenhout Street, Loerie Park, using a panga.

Officer describes horrific scene

In his testimony, Constable Bradley Geduld, the first police officer on the scene on the morning of the murder, described the shocking sight. He said he found Soneé inside her home with her face and the immediate area covered in blood. Her breathing was then laboured, but when the paramedics arrived, they declared her dead.