Court to rule on the schedule in De Jager’s case

WERNER de Jager’s bail application hearing at the Amanzimtoti Magistrate’s Court was postponed for the fourth time when he appeared on January 24 as a result of the state and the defence not agreeing on certain aspects of the case.

This was De Jager’s fifth appearance in the same court after he was arrested on November 23, 2023, for his wife’s murder. He is accused of killing Reverend Liezel de Jager, in October 2021, at their home in Amanzimtoti. The investigation ground to a halt until the intervention of Action Society, a civil rights group, saw it being transferred to the SAPS National Cold Case Investigative Unit, which made the arrest.

Also read: De Jager murder case: Husband charged with murder

Various factors, including load-shedding, the changing of the prosecution team, and the inability of the defence and the state to agree on whether the case should be classified as a Schedule 5 or 6, have seen the bail application not being finalised. Murder cases are classified under Schedule 5, and premeditated murder is classified under Schedule 6. On January 26, Magistrate Zama Nyuswa will make a ruling on the schedule the case will be classified under.

In his latest appearance and through an affidavit read by his attorney, André May, De Jager denied any involvement in the crime. He also denied and took exception to other accusations made against him by the state.

State prosecutor Gayle Greyling read a statement filed by Liezel’s parents, Henk and Salomé van Zyl, in which they asked for bail to be denied. In the statement, the Van Zyls alleged that De Jager suffers from psychological issues which started showing in 2015 when the couple’s youngest daughter was two years old.

The parents alleged that between 2015 and 2021, he tried to commit suicide 12 times using different methods. These included wrist-cutting, stabbing himself, causing a car accident and gassing himself in the car. He also allegedly swallowed an overdose of pills while in hospital after he had gone missing and was found in a sugarcane field in Illovo just over a week after his wife’s death.

“This suicide attempt only a few days after the mother of his children’s murder shows selfishness on his part,” said the statement.

Werner, through his attorney, denied that he planned the murder of his wife.

“I plan to enter a plea of ‘not guilty’ to the charge levelled against me as I maintain that I did not commit any criminal act, and this incident has left me profoundly shocked. Furthermore, I specifically deny being guilty of any competent verdict on a charge of murder,” he said through his attorney.

The bail application was postponed to February 5.

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