Last week we touched on the ongoing trial in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, with the testimony from the ex-wife of the man dubbed the ‘Springs Monster’ revealing the depths of his depravity.

You can revisit that HERE, but we’re going to move onto what went down yesterday.

The man accused of the atrocities had until then remained rather stoic in the face of his ex-wife’s testimony, but IOL reports that he finally cracked:

[He] burst into tears and bitterly sobbed as his former wife testified how they, as a young couple, moved away from his parental home after his father had shot his mother before he committed suicide.

The sobs of the 37-year-old man, dressed in his usual purple shirt, became louder when his ex-wife, who is also his co-accused, described how they endured hardships at the time.

They had to sleep in their car and in a caravan before they eventually moved to the “house of horrors” in Springs. This display of emotion came when his advocate, Anneke van Wyk, questioned his wife about their life together, and her claims that she was so terrified of him that she could not safeguard their five children from his alleged abuse.

Sorry, but you’ll find my sympathy for a man who allegedly “bludgeoned his son on the head with a knob kerrie, tried to drown him in the bath, handcuffed him to the leg of a pool table, threw a television set at him and at times handcuffed the boy, stuffed him into a cupboard and burnt him with a blow torch” rather limited.

That above is just scratching the surface of the allegations, by the way, but let’s get back to yesterday’s court proceedings:

The man, identified as accused number 1, through his lawyer told the court that he would not testify. His wife, on taking the stand, blamed everything on him and said both she and the children were terrified of him…

The man, who often sat with the Bible open on his lap in the dock, from time to time during her evidence vigorously shook his head in disagreement with what she said. He also often dabbed his eyes with his handkerchief – but on day was the first time he loudly sobbed.

Judge Eben Jordaan was told that since he had been in jail following his arrest in June 2014, he had found God and was an active member of the jail Bible study group…

Two women, who have taken the man under their wing and sat behind him in the public gallery, not missing a day, told the Pretoria News that he was now a changed person and highly emotional.

Who are these sympathisers? We saw it with Oscar Pistorius as well, and I really don’t get it.

The trial continues.

[source:iol]