Sherriff admits to wife's murder
2008-04-10
A SHERIFF of the court of Wellington, Johan Strauss, last week confessed to stabbing his wife six times. Strauss is facing charges of murder after his wife Minette was stabbed to death in her car in August last year. Strauss and his wife had been separated at the time of the incident and were in the process of divorcing. After the stabbing, Strauss fled to Wellington and drove his vehicle off Bain’s Kloof Pass. He sustained slight injuries and was arrested after a standoff with the police. During last week’s court appearance, Strauss admitted that he had murdered Minette in front of a school in Durbanville, after his emotions got the upper hand of him. She had been waiting for her son from a previous marriage. Strauss argued that he was unable to distinguish between right and wrong due to medication which he was using, depression and severe emotional stress which he had had to deal with. According to Strauss’s plea, he did not intentionally mean to kill his wife. Strauss had pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain, but this was changed to guilty after the state rejected the plea bargain. The state argued that they want to prove that Strauss did indeed plan to murder his wife. A minimum sentence of life imprisonment will then be applicable if found guil- ty. The case has been postponed to 27 October.
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