‘I cut her up over women’s rights’

A man accused of murdering his wife said he killed her in self defence, but dismembered her body out of fear because “women have too much rights”.

Goodman Nobade, 52, is on trial in the Western Cape High Court for allegedly stabbing his wife, Agnes Msizi, 37, to death, dismembering her body and then dumping her body parts in various locations in Khayelitsha.

Nobade, who pleaded not guilty to murder, said he and his wife had an argument on April 20, 2017.

According to Nobade, he had woken up early that day. Msizi asked him about his plans for the day. That conversation escalated into an argument. He said Msizi had a knife.

“I jumped to get the knife and I managed to grab it. The sharp point cut my right little finger. I tried to stop her from using it. I saw blood on the floor and realised it can’t be from my wound. She was lying on me and she was too heavy for me. Both of us were bleeding.”

Nobade said he tried pulling her towards the bedroom and tried to clean the blood surrounding her.

“I was afraid as I saw that she was dying,” he said.

“I then realised I had killed her and she is a woman and women are having too much rights and if I report this to community members I will be killed, and if I go to the police I will be arrested. I also thought of my age - I am very old to go to prison and die there,” he said.

He admitted to dismembering her body and then dumping her parts at the TR Section, at some bushes in Baden Powell and in a small river behind the N2.

He eventually handed himself over to police after his niece and police went to his home in Khayelitsha in search of Msizi.

Cape Argus