Werner de Jager, accused of murdering his pastor wife, was cheating on her with other man.
This emerged in the Amanzimtoti magistrate’s court on Wednesday during his ongoing bail application.
De Jager, 45, was arrested in December for the murder of his wife, Liezel, a reverend at the local NG Kerk Suidkus. She was attacked when she returned home from her regular morning run on October 13 2021.
At the time of her death it is alleged their relationship was in tatters, and he was in dire financial circumstances and under debt review.
According to an affidavit to the court in which the investigating officer claimed the murder was premeditated and was committed so he could claim from life insurance policies he had taken against his wife’s life just two months before.
Apart from the murder charge, he is now also facing two counts of fraud. He is accused of submitting claims to Momentum for R2m and R1.29m in October 2023.
There are elements which are planned. He knew her running schedule as she ran every morning and when she would be returning. During that time, he said he was sleeping, but our cellphone evidence suggests he was in conversation with the perpetrator.
— Prosecutor Gayle Greyling
The policies, however, were not paid out.
Defence advocate Andre May disagreed the killing was premeditated and his client should therefore not be charged with a schedule 6 offence.
However, prosecutor Gayle Greyling rejected this.
“There are elements which are planned. He knew her running schedule as she ran every morning and when she would be returning. During that time, he said he was sleeping, but our cellphone evidence suggests he was in conversation with the perpetrator, plus the evidence of his smartwatch, which reveals he had 460 steps,” said Greyling.
“I find that the allegations of the state being unethical are damning. We cannot delve into the merits of the case as this is the preserve of the trial court,” he said.
According to the state, the couple’s marriage was on the rocks and at the point of no return.
“She was a pastor and she wanted to keep up public appearances,” said Greyling.
She said De Jager had strangled her and slit her throat before deposing her body as if she had been raped.
May rejected the state’s claims over the insurance polices and said it was Liezel who had taken out a life policy a year before she died, which ruled out his client as being the mastermind.
He said the state, who had latched on to the amendment of the will two months before the death and its position regarding the insurance policy was unfair.
Earlier in the day, Greyling read a supplementary affidavit penned by the investigative officer Lt-Colonel Maria Roodt, who is part of the police’s cold case unit.
Roodt said the life insurance policy was taken out two months before Liesel’s death.
Further investigation showed the will was changed to make her husband the sole beneficiary.
“On the death of the applicant’s [Werner] spouse, he had made an inquiry on the policy and on the benefits he would derive,” said Greyling.
De Jager was also facing other pending matters, which included that of a Koppies culpable homicide case of April 2023.
“Neither the investigating team nor the NPA has any obligation to disclose the contents of the docket,” said Greyling.
She said considerations to support their call for no bail include a Bloemfontein high court order made in 2021 against the accused. She didn’t explain further.
Court magistrate Zama Nyuswa is expected to rule on whether the case should be heard as a schedule 5 or schedule 6 offence on Friday.
Thereafter bail proceedings would be reconvened on February 5.
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