Court delays plague Zurenah Smit's murder trial amid psychiatric evaluation wait

Zurenah Smit's trial for the murder of her husband continues to be postponed as she awaits a psychiatric evaluation.

Criminal proceedings against the accused husband killer, Zurenah Smit, continue to move at a snail’s pace as she waits to be admitted to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital for her 30-day evaluation to determine if she can follow court proceedings. 

On Friday, the Western Cape High Court heard that since her previous court appearance on May 22, Smit has advanced by one position on the waiting list, with no certainty of when the evaluation will commence.

The matter was again postponed to July 17 for an update on bed availability, while she remains detained at Pollsmoor Prison. 

Legal Aid lawyer for Smit, Susan Kuun, previously submitted to the court that her client was “being kept in the crèche at Pollsmoor”; she is not under observation. 

Earlier this year, Smit’s bail was revoked on January 28 at a crucial stage of cross-examination. On the day, her R10,000 bail was revoked with immediate effect to determine if she could follow court proceedings.

On Friday, Kuun said she intends to bring a new bail application on new facts, considering that Smit has been in detention for nearly six months after her bail was revoked. 

Judge Derek Wille advised Kuun that a new judge would hear the bail application for him so as not to make a credibility finding on Smit.

The State previously argued that the evaluation referral was necessitated due to Smit’s conduct on January 28. It highlighted that the trial has already begun and is currently in the defence case, where Smit is under cross-examination. 

The immediate referral was necessitated after she had told the court that her deceased husband would fetch her. 

Smit, who is yet to be further cross-examined by the State about the events that led up to and followed the shooting murder of her husband, Stefan Smit, has vehemently denied the charges she faces and has denied any involvement in his murder.

Alongside her co-accused, Derek Sait, the duo is accused of killing the 62-year-old Stellenbosch farmer and having the murder look like a robbery. 

During court proceedings so far, Zurenah maintained her innocence when she made bare denials of being involved with robberies and the 2019 murder carried out at Louisenhof Farm, where she lived with slain Stefan. 

Accused of being the mastermind of the murder, she denied offering money to anybody to have her husband killed. 

Among the charges filed against Smit and Sait is robbery with aggravating circumstances. 

It is alleged that in November 2018, Smit and Sait gave Stefan sleeping tablets or sedative substances and stole R235,000, a 9mm pistol, three Kruger Rands valued at R20,650 each, a Mandela coin worth R23,000, and a 0.5oz Kruger Rand worth R9,200.

In one of the three fraud charges she faces, the State alleges that Smit unlawfully, falsely, and with the intent to defraud, potentially prejudicing Stefan's children, bequeathed to herself, among several assets, R7 million, the Louisenhof Farm, and appointed herself as the director and/or trustee of three trusts belonging to Stefan.