SHARON MURDER CASE: CROWN OPPOSES BAIL

MBABANE – Zwelibandzi Simelane, who allegedly killed his lover, Nhlangano NERCHA Manager Sharon Neves, says he is surprised to be charged with her murder.

He denied committing the offence and said he was confident that he would be acquitted when the matter went to trial. This is contained in an application that Simelane has filed at the High Court to be released on bail. The Crown opposed the application yesterday. It is yet to file its reasons for opposing Simelane’s bail application. The accused was arrested on or around February 9, 2022, by Nhlangano police. He was accused of unlawfully and intentionally killing Neves by assaulting her with a blunt object on the body.

Surprised

“I deny any such wrong doing and I am also surprised. I have full confidence in that I will be acquitted when the matter is tried,” said Simelane. He informed the court that he was currently kept at Nhlangano Correctional Services, where it was difficult for him to survive. He said his health condition was so bad that it was unbearable for him to stay in a cold place. According to Simelane, he suffered from a disease that affected his brain such that it caused him headaches and blurred his vision. He alleged that he had been to a number of health facilities in and outside Eswatini. Simelane told the court that he was once admitted in hospital for the same sickness in February 2013. In 2013, according to Simelane, he was then funded by Phalala Fund to conduct an operation in his head in the Republic of South Africa at Healthshare Hospital.

“The operation was also visible on the top right side of my head. I humbly submit that I live with a vp shunt (pipe) inserted in my head during the operation, which is to drain acid water from my brain to my bladder. The acidic water that is flooding my brain is caused by the disease I have. That same acidic water causes headaches, drowsiness and blurred vision,” he told the court. Simelane also told the court that a person with his condition should be treated with care. He submitted that the conditions under which he stayed in prison exposed his wounds sustained during the operation. He alleged that he experienced seizures and memory loss sometimes. It was further submitted by the accused person that he had some documentation to support that indeed he visited health institutions due to his disease for treatment. The documents, according to Simelane, proved the steps he took to deal with the sickness.

Request

“I have since written to the Ministry of Health, precisely to the Principal Secretary, to request for my medical record issued when I was funded by Phalala Fund to conduct an operation in South Africa, although I do not know when this will be attended to as I can support my evidence,” he submitted. Neves was found dead in her apartment at Nkhanini Township/Phola in Nhlangano. Preliminary findings of the police suggested that she was assaulted with a heavy metal object all over her body. Simelane (33) was arrested after police investigators connected him to the gruesome murder of Neves (43), who was Shiselweni Regional Coordinator of the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS.

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