Andrew Moseadie, accused of murdering, raping and robbing his cousin in their Hout Bay home, made a U-turn on Thursday while being grilled about his plea explanation.
Andrew, who seemed a bit more composed than the previous day, stepped into the witness stand to continue being cross-examined regarding his evidence in chief.
On Tuesday, he admitted to smoking tik and mandrax on the night of 6 November 2019 and when he returned home, he fought with the deceased, Christel Moseadie, after she skelled him for coming home late.
He said he stabbed Christel once in the neck with a kitchen knife and threw a few punches at her before she “collapsed dead”.
He denied raping his cousin who had been looking after him.
The accused told the court he then went to fetch a pair of pants from her bedroom to strangle a fully clothed Christel and the next morning returned to steal her cellphone and shoes to sell for his next drug fix.
On Thursday Andrew’s version was scrutinised and weighed up against his plea explanation in which he claimed on the night of 6 November he returned home where he and the deceased chatted and headed to the bedroom “to make love”.
The plea further reads that a fight ensued, to which Andrew responded by fetching a broken garden scissor and stabbing Christel.
He then allegedly strangled her and dragged her body into the bathroom where he left her.
But Andrew disputed that this information is not what he said in his plea explanation and also denied having consensual sex with Christel.
Judge Monde Samela again read the plea explanation and said: “Your evidence presented as well as the plea explanation, has one thing in common, that you murdered the deceased.”
Andrew wanted to know how to clear his name because of the Daily Voice which is constantly reporting about him, to which Samela responded that everything reported was said in court.
When asked if there was anything he wanted to further say, Andrew paused and thought for a while before responding with “no”.
Closing arguments will be heard on 3 May.