Marius van der Westhuizen, former commander of the Claremont police, accused of shooting dead his three children, sobbed loudly in the Cape High Court on Thursday while his wife was questioned about her relationship with his retarded daughter from a previous marriage, Bianca.

Van der Westhuizen has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, before Judge Willem Louw and assessor M Powell.

His wife, Charlotte, was under cross-examination by defence attorney Milton de la Harpe, for the sixth day.

De la Harpe focused on his wife's claim to have had a close bond with Bianca, who was also shot dead together with the two small children borne of the marriage between Van der Westhuizen and Charlotte.

Van der Westhuizen would later tell the court that his wife, step-mother to Bianca, had often lost patience with the girl and had sometimes even pulled her hair in the bath, De la Harpe said.

The wife agreed she sometimes became impatient with the girl, but denied that she ever assaulted Bianca.

At this stage, Van der Westhuizen sobbed loudly in the dock.

Van der Westhuizen would also say that he would walk away and not get involved whenever his wife started shouting or swearing at him.

De la Harpe put it to Charlotte van der Westhuizen: "He would retreat and go and sit somewhere quietly, but you would follow him to continue the confrontation."

She replied: "Sometimes he turned away and sometimes I did."

De la Harpe alleged that on one occasion when they got into an argument, Van der Westhuizen retreated to the braai room to avoid the unpleasantness.

De la Harpe alleged that his wife followed him and shouted: "Talk now you coward."

The wife denied this, but added: "It was more me that turned away because whenever we debated anything, it just went in circles."

Marius van der Westhuizen sobbed loudly again when De la Harpe alleged that from May 2006 Charlotte van der Westhuizen had regularly pulled Bianca's hair in the bath when she became impatient with the girl.

The wife denied this, but added that she did sometimes give Bianca a hiding, as opposed to assaulting her.

The case continues.

Sapa

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