A Cape Town hardware salesman, who allegedly shot and killed his former partner and injured their daughter, renewed his bid for bail on Tuesday when he appealed a magistrate’s refusal to release him to the Western Cape High Court.

Angela Marinus was shot and killed while in her car in the driveway of her parents’ home in Montevideo in December 2017. A ricocheting bullet apparently struck her 16-year-old daughter in her foot. She had been in the passenger’s seat.

Two days later, Wayne Lawrence – Marinus’ ex-boyfriend and the teenager’s father – was arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder.

At the time of her death, Marinus had been seeing another man and had taken out a protection order against Lawrence. He had ostensibly used a gun on a previous occasion to threaten her new boyfriend in the presence of their child.

A Bishop Lavis magistrate last year denied Lawrence bail, and the court’s findings included that he seemed to have a propensity for violence.

The accused had been convicted of attempted murder following a fight in 1995. A non-custodial sentence had been imposed. He had also been accused of abduction almost 20 years ago. That case had been withdrawn.

Attorney William Booth, who represented Lawrence, told the high court that his client was not a risk to his daughter’s safety.

He insisted that Lawrence, who had been behind bars for more than a year, had not once attempted to make contact with the teenager after Marinus’ murder.

According to Booth, the domestic violence matter between the couple had been postponed for mediation and he indicated that they might have been trying to resolve matters.

His client also suffered from depression and anxiety and was not supplied with his medication while awaiting trial at Goodwood Prison, Booth submitted.

But prosecutor advocate Evadne Kortje vehemently argued against Lawrence’s release.

She told Judge Nolwazi Boqwana that his previous conviction and the kidnapping allegation involved violence as well as the charge he currently faces.

Kortje maintained that since Lawrence’s imprisonment, the teenager had gone from simply being his daughter to a person material to the case against him.

“She was with [her mother] when it happened,” she said.

Kortje also said that he had a licensed firearm that was unaccounted for. Police had seized one but the other has not yet been located.

Upon his arrest, Lawrence only had ammunition in his possession. One of his firearms were retrieved from a safe in his father’s home.

Two months before Marinus’ murder, an altercation occurred in which Lawrence allegedly used a gun to threatened his ex-girlfriend’s new beau, Kortje said. The man will be one of the State’s witnesses.

Kortje said Lawrence had not produced a gun when he was arrested. His father and a police friend had been present when arrangements were made for the authorities to collect Lawrence from his father’s house.

Booth said his client had not been home when police searched and seized the gun. He had been in custody ever since and could not say where the firearm was.

Kortje said Lawrence was the last person in possession of it and that there wasn’t any complaint that he lost or misplaced it.

Prior to the murder, an incident also took place at Marinus’ workplace, where a colleague phoned the police to remove Lawrence from the premises.

Kortje insisted that Lawrence was not suitable for release on bail.

A decision is expected to be delivered next week.

(Source: News24)