Africa-Press – South-Africa. The trial of the Clanwilliam teaching student who has already admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend Allison Plaatjies concluded on Thursday, with judgment set for 17 October.
Phillip April pleaded guilty to the charge of murdering his girlfriend, but insisted it was not premeditated.
He said he killed her on 26 October 2019, during an argument at her flat. He was also charged with theft of her Hyundai i20. He denied that charge, saying he was usually the alternate driver.
During his plea, April explained that he and Plaatjies studied teaching and later worked together at Sederberg Primary School in Clanwilliam.
However, he had failed a subject and went to Cape Town before her murder to rewrite it, to complete his qualification, but failed again.
He said this upset him a lot.
He went back to Clanwilliam and tried to see her on the Friday night, but she shunned him because they had broken up.
Gaping hole left on woman’s face after boyfriend bit her during deadly attack, court hears
Their relationship had been an on-off volatile one, with one person testifying that he once threw a beer mug at her, and had belittled her in front of someone else. She told more than one person that she was worried he would kill her, and that he wanted her for himself.
In texts between them the day before she died, she told him: “I don’t mean to be rude but I no longer have to explain anything to you”, to which he replied: “Yes, I know but you lie a lot.”
Plaatjies wrote back:
At her flat after a school event on the day she died, they argued, and he punched her and bit her face so severely that he left a hole on her upper lip with her gum showing.
In his confession, he said: “I then took her by the neck from the lounge to the bedroom, I then choked her until she became lame and she was lying on the ground. She spoke weakly and said leave me alone.”
He continued: “I went to fetch the knife in the kitchen. I stabbed her with a knife in her neck. The handle of the knife broke off in her neck. She was still alive. She was breathing very heavily.
He added:
The State submitted that Plaatjies fought hard to survive, but “he never took any time to consider sparing the deceased her life.”
He spent until his arrest either at his mother’s house, or drinking with friends, before police finally caught up with him and he confessed.
The alarm was raised when she did not keep an arrangement to judge a modelling competition, and stopped responding to calls and messages.
On Thursday, supporters surrounded her mother with small placards, with two people in ANC regalia also present.
It was one of the few occasions that the family was shown mass support during the trial. A long-standing family friend Julian Mathhysen said it was Plaatjies’ birthday on Thursday.
“She was loved by her community,” said Mathhysen.
“He decided if he could not have her, nobody could have her,” said Mathhysen.
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