Alleged wife-killer sent for mental observation

THE High Court this week ordered that Rehoboth resident Prollius van Zyl, who is accused of having stabbed his wife to death in November 2002, should undergo psychiatric observation.

Van Zyl’s defence counsel, Bradley Basson, asked Judge Kato van Niekerk on Wednesday to order that Van Zyl should be observed by a psychiatrist. That would be to determine, firstly, if he is able to understand his trial proceedings in order to make a proper defence to the charge that he faces, and secondly if his mental state at the time of the alleged crime that he is accused of would affect his criminal responsibility for his alleged actions.Basson explained to the Judge that, in hours of consultations with Van Zyl, he had found it “very difficult, virtually impossible”, to take proper instructions from his client, since Van Zyl himself was unable to explain what had happened on the evening when he is alleged to have killed his wife.”It’s like he is completely blocking out the fact that he stabbed his wife,” Basson said.Van Zyl (32) is charged with murdering his wife, Johanna Melinda van Zyl (37), in the yard of their house during the early morning hours of November 23 2002.He allegedly stabbed her eight times with a knife.At the start of his trial in the High Court in Windhoek in April, Van Zyl offered a plea of guilty to the charge.However, when he testified on the events that had landed him in the dock, he claimed not to be able to remember if he had actually stabbed her.He told the court that he however accepted that it must have been him who had stabbed her, since they were the only people present when they had an altercation, which ended with him realising that his wife was sitting on the ground in front of him, blood spurting from her neck.Van Zyl has been in custody since the day of the incident.He will remain in the same position until he is scheduled to return to court on August 20.That would be to determine, firstly, if he is able to understand his trial proceedings in order to make a proper defence to the charge that he faces, and secondly if his mental state at the time of the alleged crime that he is accused of would affect his criminal responsibility for his alleged actions.Basson explained to the Judge that, in hours of consultations with Van Zyl, he had found it “very difficult, virtually impossible”, to take proper instructions from his client, since Van Zyl himself was unable to explain what had happened on the evening when he is alleged to have killed his wife.”It’s like he is completely blocking out the fact that he stabbed his wife,” Basson said.Van Zyl (32) is charged with murdering his wife, Johanna Melinda van Zyl (37), in the yard of their house during the early morning hours of November 23 2002.He allegedly stabbed her eight times with a knife.At the start of his trial in the High Court in Windhoek in April, Van Zyl offered a plea of guilty to the charge.However, when he testified on the events that had landed him in the dock, he claimed not to be able to remember if he had actually stabbed her.He told the court that he however accepted that it must have been him who had stabbed her, since they were the only people present when they had an altercation, which ended with him realising that his wife was sitting on the ground in front of him, blood spurting from her neck.Van Zyl has been in custody since the day of the incident.He will remain in the same position until he is scheduled to return to court on August 20.