Cape Town - The man accused of killing his cousin during a psychotic episode made his first appearance at Blue Downs Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Reatile Masakala was arrested last Friday after he allegedly stabbed Portia Nkemeleng Qametsi, a lawyer, with a knife.
They were supposed to travel to the Eastern Cape together last Saturday.
According to a community member, when the accused arrived at Qametsi’s home in Brackenfell, he started drinking.
She explained that the accused allegedly got upset when the victim asked him to go to sleep around 10pm.
Moments later, the security guards of the Papegaaiberg Mooiberge Complex were called to the flat.
A community member explains: “According to the victim’s child, the cousin lives in Bellville and then visited them that day.
“When he got drunk, he started making a noise and the deceased didn’t like that, so she asked him to go to bed and he got really angry.
“It was like he became psychotic and she tried to give him pills to calm him down, but he got angrier.
“He then grabbed a knife, the child ran into the neighbour’s flat and the occupants, two men, went to try and stop the fight, but they ended up being stabbed.”
The resident said she was told by a family member that the accused didn’t drink much.
The charge sheet said that the accused was charged with murder and attempted murder.
It reads: “That the accused is guilty of the crime of murder, in that on 13 December, he unlawfully and intentionally killed a female person, by the name of Portia Qametsi, by stabbing the victim repeatedly in her body, chest and neck.”
The document also stated that the accused is guilty of the crime of attempted murder in that he attempted to kill Ntlanhla Ncube, a male, by stabbing him in the thigh, hand and leg.
The accused is expected to return to court on 8 January for an opposed bail application.