Timeslive reports that a police officer‚ a medical doctor and self-defence expert are among the witnesses lined up for the defence in a matter of a man accused of assaulting his domestic worker.  

On Wednesday‚ defence advocate Lize Nel tore apart statements made by Siyamthanda Dube‚ who has accused Kobus de Klerk of having assaulted her in November 2017 at his home where she worked in Randpark Ridge‚ Johannesburg.  The details of the circumstances according to Dube which led to the alleged assault are detailed in this report.  According to one Dube’s statement‚ De Klerk started punching her but she blocked the blows with her arms.  “Then he pushed me again.  This was the fourth time he pushed me ... I fell onto my back on the step.  I don’t know what happened then‚ if I collapsed or I fainted‚” the statement reads.  Nel poked holes in the two statements that Dube had made and accused her of making statements that varied as matters suited her.  Dube told the court that she remembered speaking to the police officer, but could not recall every detail of what she had asked her.  The defence indicated that it would also call De Klerk and his wife as witnesses.  The matter was postponed to 23 May.

• Read this comprehensive report by Penwell Dlamini in full at Timeslive

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