A ditched husband waited outside his wife's shop in the Mpumalanga town of Dullstroom for an hour before gunning her down, the Pretoria High Court heard on Monday.

This emerged from testimony on the last hours of Riekie Riekert, a 40-year-old mother of two who was shot dead at Milly's trout stall on 11 March last year.

Her husband, 43-year-old Johan Riekert, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder, but gave no explanation to his plea.

An informal trader, Johannes Mbuyane, testified that he had seen a man sitting in a white bakkie outside the shop for about an hour before getting out, putting a firearm into his pocket and going into the shop.

He heard three shots and saw a white woman falling through the open window onto the porch outside the shop.

The man came out and stood over the woman, watching her, before driving away at a high speed.

Annemarie Stuiver, who owns a shop next to the trout stall, testified that she saw Riekert getting out of his car that day and then heard what sounded like a cracker.

After a second cracking noise, she heard people shouting and saw them scattering. A friend stopped her from going outside, but she looked out of her window and saw Riekert walking to his wife, standing over her and firing another shot, Stuiver testified in tears.

She went to fetch the town's only doctor, but he told her Riekie was already dead.

Marital problems

Riekie's mother, Hannie Hietbrink, said the couple, who stayed in a house on their farm, had marital problems. Her daughter had told her three days before her death that she wanted a divorce.

She complained that he walked around naked in front of the children.

Riekert moved out of the house the next day while her daughter and grandchildren came to stay with her.

She last heard from her daughter on the day of her death, when she phoned them to come and fetch their granddaughter at the shop. The child was very upset about her father sitting around in front of the shop the whole time.

Hietbrink said there had been problems in the marriage before because Riekert had an affair. She denied interfering in her daughter's marriage or advising her to get a divorce.

The trial continues.

Sapa