Charlotte van der Westhuizen, wife of senior police officer Marius van der Westhuizen, who is alleged to have shot dead her two small children, wept hysterically at the Cape High Court on Tuesday as the case was about to resume.

Marius van der Westhuizen faces three counts of murder, two of them relating to the children born of his marriage to Charlotte, and the third relating to his retarded daughter from a previous marriage.

Charlotte was comforted by her aunt who had attended the trial from the start.

The trial was presided over by Judge Willem Louw and assessor M. Powell.

Charlotte van der Westhuizen was recalled to the witness stand by defence attorney, Milton de la Harpe, who as the proceedings started, apologised to her for having to recall her and assured her he would try to make his cross examination as comfortable for her as possible.

He said he understood that she was extremely traumatised, and that it was difficult for her to return to the court to be cross examined a second time.

She had previously been cross examined by a defence advocate who no longer represented Van der Westhuizen.

De la Harpe said his cross examination would focus on the accused's character - "Marius as a human being and Marius as a police officer."

Charlotte van der Westhuizen said she met Marius van der Westhuizen when she was based at Muizenberg police station, where he was a commander.

"He was my boss and he expected me to do my work."

She was questioned about the fact that she had started a relationship with him in 1995, during his previous marriage.

She replied; "Yes, he wasn't a bad person."

She said it was correct that Van der Westhuizen went through the trauma of divorce that year.

De la Harpe asked if her relationship with Van der Westhuizen was the cause of his divorce.

She replied; "It was alleged that I broke up his marriage."

She said there was an internal police inquiry about the relationship.

The findings of the inquiry was that she was not the cause of the divorce.

The case continues.

Sapa