A Cape Town man accused of slitting his wife’s throat has apologised to the victim in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court.
Arthur Snyders had been a wanted man since the attack on his wife two weeks ago, and had been on the run since 2008 for allegedly stabbing another woman to death.
The Heideveld woman was hospitalised after he allegedly grabbed her at a tuckshop and slit her throat with a knife during an argument.
Snyders, 49, has been charged with attempted murder. The case has been postponed to December 20, for bail application.
As Snyders made his way down to the holding cells, he looked at his wife of six years and said “sorry”, to which she replied “sorry, dis te laat om nou sorry te sê (it’s too late to say sorry now)”.
The 40-year-old woman said that she felt safe knowing that Snyders was behind bars.
She said: “Had he cut me deep then, there wouldn’t have been a chance to say sorry. I wasn’t prepared last week to look in his face, but I feel justice needs to be served because what Arthur did is not right.
“That apology doesn’t matter because I have the biggest book full of sorries,” she said.
“No woman deserves to be treated like this. He is my husband, but he did not know my value as his wife, and the saddest part is that he was supposed to protect me, not abuse and hurt me like he did.”
The woman also expressed her relief as she was finally being heard.
“I have been abused by Arthur for 10 years and nobody has done anything, so finally I can sit back and thank God because I am being heard this time,” she added.
marsha.dean@inl.co.za