Wife must pay 'poison plot' husband
A Pietermaritzburg woman has been ordered to pay her estranged husband R10,000 a month in maintenance - eight months after the Hawks arrested him for allegedly trying to poison her.
Businesswoman Vino Williams, 49, has also been ordered by the Pietermaritzburg High Court to reinstate her estranged husband, David, 51, as a beneficiary on her medical aid and pay his legal costs for the application.
The couple were married for 22 years before separating in October last year after David was arrested for allegedly buying poison from an undercover Hawks agent to kill Vino.
He will appear in court in July to face charges of conspiring to murder his wife between September 26 and October 4 last year .
In court papers Vino, who says she lives in fear of her life, said she could not understand "why I must support a man who was actively planning to kill me".
Her husband, currently out on R5,000 bail, was arrested after members of the Hawks received a tip-off about his alleged plot.
His lawyer, Yugusan Govender, submitted an affidavit to the court in which David claimed Vino had left him destitute, adding that he had become dependent on the "grace and favour" of friends.
In the court papers David said Vino had forced him out of their "matrimonial home" in October when "she was led to believe that I had sought to kill her".
He said that while he accepted their marriage was over, this did not warrant his wife "to cast me out and leave me destitute. I have no means to support myself," he said.
Judge David Ntshangase said he ruled in David's favour because the couple had been married in community of property.
On Thursday, Vino described the court's decision to award David maintenance as heartbreaking.
"I'm heartsore at the court's decision. I spent thousands of rands to defend the matter. I have no choice but to comply with the court order," she said. "This week I also paid his lawyer's costs ... it's not fair, but what can I do?"
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