Cape Town - Nearly seven years after the horrific shooting which led to the death of Montevideo mother Angela Marinus, the Western Cape High Court is set to hand down judgment on her former boyfriend, Wayne Lawrence, tomorrow.
Lawrence has been on trial for the shooting that killed the 36-year-old outside her home in Nevada Street in December 2017.
Marinus was shot in her head and neck, and one of the bullets ricocheted off her and hit her 16-year-old daughter, who was with her in the car, in the foot.
During the trial Lawrence pleaded not guilty to all the charges levelled against him, which included assault, kidnapping, murder, attempted murder, domestic violence and charges under the Firearms Control Act.
According to court documents, Lawrence submitted a plea statement where he confirmed that he was in a common-law relationship with Marinus and they had one daughter.
He said he legally possessed two firearms and was a member of a shooting club.
He claimed that during their relationship Marinus abused him and allegedly had physical relations with other men and further claimed that at the time of her death she was in a relationship with a co-worker.
“The accused denies that he had planned to murder the deceased or that his actions were premeditated. The accused furthermore denied that he had any intention to murder the deceased,” court documents read.
“At the time of the deceased’s death, the accused was in a severely depressed state of mind, having been diagnosed with major depression and generalised anxiety disorder. The accused was hospitalised for these illnesses in October 2017. He was also on prescribed medication at the time,” it reads.
mahira.duval@inl.co.za
Cape Argus