A man appeared in the Balfour Magistrate's Court on Wednesday for allegedly murdering his former girlfriend's husband with a hammer and a knife, Mpumalanga police said.

Willy Fannie Legodi visited his ex-girlfriend on Tuesday, apparently to ask for their late child's death certificate, waited until the victim Vusi Nkomo fell asleep and went to a neighbour's house to borrow a hammer and a knife, Captain Leonard Hlathi said.

When he returned to the house he entered the room where Nkomo was sleeping and allegedly stabbed him.

"The woman was trapped in the house as Legodi had locked the doors."

Neighbours heard screams from the house and called the police.

Legodi then climbed out of a window, allegedly bragging "I have finished him, I have finished him", Hlathi said.

Police found him wearing blood-stained clothes. Nkomo was certified dead on the scene.

The case was postponed to 8 September.