SHARON NEVES MURDER: I WASN’T IN MY SENSES - BOYFRIEND

MBABANE – Zwelibanzi Simelane, who allegedly killed Sharon Neves, says he was not in his senses when he hit her with a pick axe handle.

Simelane is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Neves, who died on February 8, 2022 in the flat they shared at Nkhanini Township in Nhlangano. Neves was the National Emergency Response Council on HIV/Aids (NERCHA) Shiselweni Region Coordinator. Simelane took to the stand yesterday and told the court that Neves left the Correctional Services staff  canteen earlier on the day of the murder and when he arrived in the house after 11pm, he found her sitting in the dark and the only light was from the television set. He said she was sitting on a sofa and he was surprised that she was not asleep as she had told him that she was going to sleep when she left him at the staff canteen. According to Simelane, there was a glass of wine in front of her.

He submitted that Neves expressed displeasure that he came back so late and drunk. Simelane said she went on until the issue of the house keys, which he had kept for the better part of the day and driving her car came up. “While we were arguing, she slapped me across the face. Things went blurry for a moment. When I regained my sight, since the lights were off, I saw her standing on her feet. I was drunk. The deceased was carrying a decorated glass, which she threw at me while I was still seated on the sofa. “She was aiming for my head. I raised my arms and it hit the back of my hand. I got injured. It fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Things were happening very fast. I realised that she was armed with the handle of a pick axe,” Simelane narrated.

She alleged that Neves tried to hit him in the head. He said he in 2013 he had an operation on the head and a ventricular shunting was inserted on the right side of my head all the way to his intestines for meningitis treatment. “The deceased was aware how delicate the operation was and she was aiming for the head in all her attacks. During the attacks, I panicked and lost my mind for a bit. I got up and fought for the pick axe handle she was attacking me with.

Wrestled

“We wrestled and I recall that at some point, I hit her with the pick handle once or twice as we fought for it. I can’t recall exactly where I hit her but it was on her body. During the fight, she slipped and fell badly. She knocked the coffee table with her rib cage and hit the floor with the back of her head.” Simelane said he came back to his senses when Neves fell. He told the court that he tried to assist her to get up. “She said I should leave her the f**k alone. In anger, I walked out of the house. She insulted me and called me a coward, saying I should go away. When I was outside, I lit a cigarette and smoked. While smoking, I called my friend Thulani (Dlamini), hoping he would be able to intervene. He didn’t pick up the call.

“After spending some time outside, I went back into the house and Sharon had moved from where she had fallen. I went towards the bedroom and found her on the floor, in a kneeling position. I shook her to help her get up but she didn’t respond. She was unresponsive. I tried to call the emergency response at 977, but couldn’t get through. I was still calling her name.”
At this point, Simelane was sobbing and his attorney, Mlindi Mthethwa, asked if he was okay to continue. Simelane requested the court to bear with him because he was relating the events all at once for the first time. Due to shock, he said, he took the items they were using during the fight – the broken glass and handle of the pick axe - and threw them outside over the fence.

“I went to the outside sink and washed off the blood as I was bleeding. I went back to the house. Sharon was wearing a short nightdress I took a kanga and covered her. I got into the car and drove to the police station in Nhlangano. I was still shocked and scared. I found Sergeant Hlatshwako at the front desk. I reported that I found Sharon dead in the house.
“He asked where I was coming from at that time and I told him that I was drinking with my friends at Mathendele. I was afraid and shocked and my intention was to get help for her.”
 He said he and the police went back to the house at Nkhanini that night and showed them where Neves lay.

He said he quickly went outside. “It was clear to me that she had died because she was still in the same position I had left her. I cried while sitting on the steps. The police officer came out and told me that I would no longer be able to enter the house as it was a crime scene. They asked where I could spend the night. I said I would not leave until the Scenes of Crime officers arrived in the morning. I was hoping that she would have woken up by the morning but that didn’t happen.”

Police

Simelane was taken to the police station, locked in a cell and later interrogated. He said he led the police back to the flat where he pointed out the items he had thrown over the fence. He said there was also Neves’ cellphone and his wristwatch, among those items. He was charged with murder and appeared at the magistrates court. At the end of his testimony, he passed his condolences to Neves’ family ‘if they are before court and her colleagues and our friends’. “I apologise to the society as a whole for what happened, resulting in Neves’ death. I apologise to the court for appearing before it for the first time in such a serious offence.” The defence closed its case. Oral submissions will be made on August 9, 2024 and Judge Maxine Langwenya will possibly deliver the judgment on conviction on August 15, 2024.

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