The Western Cape High Court is on Thursday expected to sentence Bongani Dodo for the 2013 murder of his 29-year-old wife and mother of his two children.
Shocking details of the case have served to highlight how the police service failed to protect Zuziwe Gobelo when she turned to them for help just eleven days before her death.
Dodo was found guilty in June of murder. His claim that he acted in self defence was rejected by the court.
The couple, who lived in Masiphumelele near Noordhoek, were on the verge of divorce at the time of the murder.
In the summary of the facts presented by the State, a tragic picture of the police’s failure in this case to protect the victim, has emerged.
On December 15, 2013, Gobelo spent the night at her mother’s house. Dodo broke in, stabbed Gobelo and beat her, leaving her seriously injured and in need of hospitalisation.
Her sister, Bukiwe Matambeka, went to Fish Hoek police station to report the matter.
By the time she arrived back at her mother’s house, she found Dodo standing over Gobelo. She was covered with blood, her face swollen and her lip split.
Dodo then left, and Gobelo was taken to hospital.
Later that night, Dodo returned and threatened Matambeka, while he also took two cellphones and threw them into a nearby drain.
The next day, December 16, Gobelo opened a criminal case against her husband at Ocean View police station. Police accompanied her to arrest him, but they could not find him, and Gobelo never heard from the police again.
On December 27, Gobelo was preparing to leave home for her work at a top restaurant in Kalk Bay at about 7.15am. Her husband arrived and asked for money. He noticed a pair of pants on the bed and demanded to know who they belonged to.
Gobelo told him they were hers and a tussle over the clothing ensued. It was then that Dodo pulled out a knife and stabbed Gobelo repeatedly.
Gobelo’s sister entered the room and witnessed the murder. The victim’s brother also shouted at Dodo to stop.
“The accused then stood up and commenced to injure himself superficially on the chest with the knife, before fleeing the scene and disposing of the knife.”
He was arrested at the False Bay hospital covered in blood.
By the time police arrived at the crime scene, Gobelo was dead.
“A post mortem examination revealed that the deceased had suffered seven stab wounds to the chest, neck, abdomen, shoulder, hand and face. Two of the chest wounds had penetrated the heart and a stab wound to the neck had incised the internal jugular vein and carotid artery.”
In his judgement in June, Western Cape High Court Judge Vincent Saldanha lambasted the police for failing to protect Gobelo: “It is entirely incomprehensible that after the deceased reported to the police the serious charge of domestic violence in which she had been stabbed and physically assaulted by her husband who had broken into the house of her mother, had simply failed to conduct any investigation with regard to the matter.”
South Africa Today – South Africa News
