Nurse accused of feeding ‘love rival’ dog faeces back in custody as bail judgment not ready

A nurse accused of forcing a supposed love rival to eat dog faeces was sent back to custody, as the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court was not ready to pronounce on whether she should be granted bail on Monday.

Elizabeth Williams waited to hear whether Magistrate Bukiwa Sambudla thought she should be allowed to go home to wait for her trial.

Co-accused Princess Gopie and Porcha Jonkers came from the public gallery to stand with her after being granted bail on Friday in the unusual case.

They allegedly helped lure the woman in the video, Ivodene van Niekerk, to Williams’ house on July 26.

The court heard on Friday that Williams allegedly took a pinprick blood test from Van Niekerk and allegedly tried to set her dogs on her.

The dogs did not attack but went out of the house instead. Williams allegedly went to Jonkers later and attacked her with a dog chain.

The court heard that these incidents were coupled with threats by Williams, who suspected Van Niekerk of having a relationship with her boyfriend.

Her lawyer Andrew Joyce said that the scene, depicted in a video of Van Niekerk allegedly being forced to eat the dog faeces, was very bad, but that there was no proof of the other incidents.

The three face charges of kidnapping, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and intimidation.

Joyce said that his client, Williams, faced a Schedule 1 crime only, and needed to be available to support her grandmother and son, and so should be granted bail.

Prosecutor Laurentia Morkel felt differently, submitting that Williams had abused her position as a nurse by conducting a blood test at home and forcing a person to eat dog faeces.

“She has laid down an oath to protect and care for people,” submitted Morkel last week.

However, on Monday, Magistrate Sambudla said she would only be ready to hand down a judgment regarding bail on Wednesday.

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