Tina's ex: 'I feared for my life, so I hid'

Michael Padayachee did not hand himself over to the police because he feared for his life.

Padayachee, accused of savagely assaulting Tina Mbili, yesterday told the Phoenix Magistrate's Court that he was too afraid to go to the police on his own.

He said he hid for two weeks while a massive manhunt for him continued.

"I wanted to go to my attorney's office to hand myself over.

"I knew that the police wanted me but I feared for my life and did not go to them because I didn't know if they had opened a case," he said.

Padayachee was arrested in Verulam, north of Durban, on Monday after a two-week manhunt involving a specially formed police team and members of the tactical response team.

He told the court he was on his way to see his attorney when he was arrested.

Padayachee was expected to appear in court on Friday in connection with a pending case of assault, intimidation, and crimen injuria related to allegations that he tried to kidnap his daughter in July.

But a medical certificate faxed from his attorney's office was sent to court to excuse him.

Police established that, while in hiding, Padayachee consulted a Durban doctor and was deemed unfit to appear in court on Friday.

Padayachee is Mbili's former lover and the father of her 17-month-old daughter. He was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly beat her and left her for dead in a Phoenix park last month.

Prosecutor Jayraj Moonilall yesterday told the court that Padayachee was a danger to Mbili.

She had obtained an interim protection order against him, and two domestic violence cases involving him are pending.