Flabba Murder Trial: The mistake was killing him

Johannesburg - The Randburg Magistrate’s court heard testimony from murder accused, Sindisiwe Manqele on Thursday.

Sindi, who is accused of stabbing rapper Flabba Habedi in March of this year, was cross examined by the state prosecution, and told the court that she assumed Flabba had brought the knife to the room to open the door.

Sindi claims that her and Flabba were in love and planned to marry soon, with the rapper set to pay lobola in June.

She told the court that when the couple arrived home on the night of the murder she rushed into the house, despite spraining her ankle earlier in the night, because she had had an argument with Flabba.

Sindi says she locked herself in the room and tried to call for help 10 times, but the network kept cutting.
She says she had locked herself in a room and the rapper pushed the door open, pushing her to the floor, but she did not think it was intentional.

She recounted how Flabba paced the room and later threw her on the bed, before pinning her and stabbing her in the stomach.

“At that moment I thought he was going to kill me. He used force,” she told the court.

She maintains that she screamed for help and heard a knock at the door while he was holding her, explaining how she managed to grab the knife by loosening his grip on the item with both hands.

Sindi says she was able to get the rapper off her because she was scared and ran for the door before Flabba grabbed her and pinned her against the wall, shaking her.

She says she stabbed Flabba to distract him so she could escape from the room. "I stabbed him intentionally the mistake was killing him," she told the court. 

Sindi told the court that she dropped the knife once he screamed that she had stabbed him, and wanted to help him before calling for help.

She says she was shocked and was not thinking straight at the time. "My lover was on the floor and I had to give his brothers an explanation," she says 

Sindi confirmed to the court that she broke a bottle and cut herself on the wrist while seated next to his body in the room.

She says she sustained 6 wounds, but admits that only received stitches on one.

The state have called Sindi's version of events "improbable" and say they will prove that the couple argued because of Sindi's jealousy and that Flabba had not intended to hurt Sindi.

Court will resume on Friday with the defence expected to call three additional witnesses.