Woman aquitted of murdering husband

For more than 20 years a Cape Town mother was beaten and abused by her husband, until one day while on holiday she picked up a .22 rifle and shot him in the stomach.

This week tears streamed down 41-year-old Jeanette Grimbeek’s cheeks as she was acquitted of murder by the regional court in East London.

Grimbeek admitted to shooting her husband Jurgens in March 2009 while they were staying at Swallows Farm.

According to the state, Jurgens died from injuries sustained as a result of the shooting – but his body was never found. A police report suggests that while he was being transported to Frere Hospital, Jurgens jumped out of the ambulance and fled.

This week magistrate Paul Pretorius ruled that the state had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Grimbeek had murdered her husband.

He found that Grimbeek had acted in self-defence when she shot the man who had physically abused her for two decades, even when she was pregnant with their only son.

Her affidavit before the court tells a painful and humiliating story of years of abuse by Jurgens, an alcoholic whom she described as extremely jealous and possessive. When he lost his job due to his problem with alcohol, he got involved in the illegal trading of cycads.

The couple married when Grimbeek was 18, while Jurgens was doing his compulsory military service.

Three months later the beatings started. He pushed her, punched her and in later years even kicked her.

During their marriage they lived all over the country. The affidavit says she tried to leave him several times and how on several occasions the police had been called by neighbours, holidaymakers, friends and even her son. She laid charges against him only to drop them because he threatened to kill her and her family.

“My son was aware of the assaults. There was one incident when my son contacted the police… (Jurgens) was locked up for the night but released the following day.”

She begged Jurgens to let her leave to go and live with her parents. He agreed in principal but never let her go.

Two years ago she found out her father had cancer. Jurgens again promised to let her go.

“The night before the shooting, Jurgens seriously assaulted me after we had an argument… He pushed me so hard I fell to the ground. He started hitting my head against the wall. He kicked me in the face and a piece of my tooth broke.”

He then dragged her out of the house naked, in the rain. She tried to run but he came after her and dragged her by the hair back to the house. He tried to have sex with her but she refused and he continued to assault her. The next day they were going to a braai. She asked him if she could stay at home, but he got angry and threw the salads she had made on to the floor.

“He started pushing me and I went to the bedroom and sat next to the bed. He started slapping me and kicking me. I was crying and told him I could not take it any longer. I had already started to pack my suitcase.

“He continued to swear and curse me. I confronted him about a story I had heard that he had a sexual relationship with one of the girls on the farm. He then became furious and started to strangle me. I was very scared.”

In the bedroom a .22 rifle was leaning against the cupboard.

“It was loaded as we used to shoot on the farm. I took the weapon to try to scare him off.”

Jurgens had seven firearms, including a shotgun, a pistol and a revolver.

“I pointed the .22 rifle at his stomach and warned him not to come closer. Jurgens asked me why I chose such a ‘pissie’ thing and not the shotgun or one of the handguns. Without warning he grabbed the front of the rifle and I pulled the trigger. He pulled the rifle from my hands and hit me with the butt against my head.”

The next moment he complained that he was in pain and sat down on the floor.

After some time the police and an ambulance arrived. Scared, she told the police Jurgens had shot himself. He was taken to Frere Hospital and two days later she was told he had discharged himself.

In a panic, she went to her parents in Cape Town. She hired an attorney who applied for an interdict against Jurgens and also filed for divorce.

On her 40th birthday she got a phone call from the police to say he had died in March 2009.

The police arrested her at her parent’s home in Kommetjie soon afterwards. - Weekend Argus

melanie.peters@inl.co.za