Questions in the Cape High Court about her domestic budget and her overspending, caused Charlotte van der Westhuizen to burst into tears on Wednesday.

Angry outbursts were also directed at the court as the mother of two small children who were allegedly shot dead by her husband, was asked to explain her monthly expenditure.

Her husband, Marius van der Westhuizen, formerly a senior police officer, is on trial before Judge Willem Louw on three counts of murder.

Two of the charges relate to the deaths of the two small children borne from his marriage to Charlotte, while on the third charge he is alleged to have shot dead his retarded teenage daughter from a previous marriage.

The wife was on Wednesday in the witness stand for the fifth day as defence attorney Milton de la Harpe questioned her intensely about her domestic life prior to the shootings.

Charlotte van der Westhuizen agreed that her expenditure sometimes exceeded her income, and that she had once bought expensive dental medication to make her teeth whiter.

Questioned about this, she began sobbing loudly and said: "So what?"

She was also questioned about an expensive transparent blouse that she had bought for an annual police function.

She said Van der Westhuizen had been very angry about the purchase, as he felt the money could rather have been spent on repairs to their pool.

She told the court: "My plan was to pay for the blouse from my performance bonus, but I did not get the expected bonus that year."

Because she had bought the blouse, Van der Westhuizen had taken away her credit and savings account cards from her, she said.

The wife sobbed loudly as she explained: "To this day the pool is still broken, and now you are fighting with me about it!"

In another outburst, she explained: "Marius took his money and ran, and I sit with the house with a leaking roof and I get nothing from him.

"I can't even get maintenance from him. For twelve years I was mother to his retarded daughter, and I never asked him for money.

"My children were murdered — this questioning is all so stupid.

"In his eyes I could never do anything right," she said.

The case continues.

Sapa

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