Man on trial for shooting ex dead ‘still grieving’
A man who allegedly killed his former girlfriend has been “suffering ever since her death”, according to his lawyer.
|||Pretoria - A man who allegedly shot and killed his former girlfriend at her workplace nearly a year ago has told the high court in Pretoria that he is still grieving for her as much as her family is.
Dawie Connoway, 38, pleaded not guilty to murdering Nicolene Schreuder on the morning of April 29 last year.
Although he has not offered a plea explanation, his lawyer put it to the dead woman’s mother, Roselind Schreuder, that his client still grieved for Nicolene.
“My client said he is as traumatised by her death as you and your family are. He has been suffering ever since her death and to this day he is still grieving”.
The shooting happened nearly a year ago at an office park in Moreleta Park, during which the personal assistant of the chief executive of Manage All was shot dead in the parking lot.
The State alleges that Connoway went to the Manage All offices in Rubenstein Drive that morning and shot Schreuder several times in the parking lot, before speeding off on his motorbike.
Jannette Groenewald, a receptionist at Manage All, testified that Connoway came to the business that morning and asked to see Nicolene. This was the first time she had met him personally. He often came to visit his girlfriend, but he never came into the premises. They always met outside the gate.
Groenewald said that while waiting for the Nicolene, they had a pleasant chat about his motorbike.
“They greeted by kissing and Nicolene and him then walked outside and I went on with my work. About five minutes later I heard shots being fired and glass shatter. I heard someone shouting, open the f****** gate. I saw Dawie pointing a firearm at Peter (the security guard) and I saw Nicolene lying on the ground.”
Connoway’s mother, Elize Fourie, helped him to escape arrest by hiding him in a walk-in safe at her farmhouse outside Pretoria. She was later arrested for defeating the ends of justice and she was subsequently given a suspended sentence.
Connoway and Schreuder lived together on the farm for about two years prior to the incident. They broke up a few days before the shooting and Schreuder moved in with her mother.
Earlier on Monday, Rosalind, the mother, said her daughter phoned her on April 16 last year and told her she could no longer handle Connoway’s abuse, claiming the accused had pulled her around by her hair and in a fit of rage bashed both her television sets and her laptop to the ground.
Schreuder sr said her daughter arrived at her house with some clothes and her three dogs, as Connoway had threatened to shoot the animals. They went to fetch Nicolene’s belongings a few days later.
According to the mother, she discovered the two smashed television sets in a dustbin on the farm while they were loading her daughter’s belongings.
Schreuder said Connoway arrived at her home a few days later as he wanted to see her daughter, but she was not home.
“He wanted to come in to talk. He was emotional and told me he was sorry about what had happened. He said he would never hurt her again.” Schreuder said she referred to the damaged television sets and she told him that if that was the way he reacted when he was angry, what next would he do to her daughter.
Connoway, through his lawyer, denied he vandalised the TV sets and said Schreuder had trashed them.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
Pretoria News