A butcher by trade, Ricardo Greeves would have known just how to slit his fiancée’s throat when he flew into a fit of rage and murdered her after finding out that she was having an affair.
With a 10cm long and 3cm deep slash to her throat, Elize Meyer was nearly decapitated during the deadly attack.
The 33-year-old mother-of-two died almost instantly while seated in her car following a heated argument outside a school in Salsoneville, Bethelsdorp.
On Tuesday, Greeves, 41, described to the high court in Gqeberha how he had killed the mother of his children.
He was later convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in terms of a plea agreement with the state.
In his guilty plea read out by defence advocate Louiza Roux, Greeves said that before the July 20 2019 murder, he had learnt that the mother of his two daughters, aged 10 and three, had been having an affair.
The couple, who had been in a relationship since 2007, had been engaged since early 2018 and planned to marry in 2020.
Armed with telephonic evidence of the alleged affair, Greeves said that on the eve of the murder he had gone to the Nimrod Street, Bethelsdorp, home of Meyer’s sister, Sarah Potgieter, and told her that his fiancée was cheating on him.
“I was very angry when I told her this,” Greeves said.
Potgieter was staying in a garden flat on the property where Meyer lived with her parents.
At the time, both their children were in the care of Potgieter and were present when he told her about the alleged affair.
“I then left and told [Potgieter] to take care of the children knowing already that I intended to kill [Meyer],” Greeves said, admitting to the premeditation.
He kissed both children goodbye on their heads and left the house.
Greeves said he and Meyer had gone for a drive in her car later that evening.
Meyer, who had been driving, stopped in front of a primary school in Volkwyn Street, Bethelsdorp.
According to Greeves, they spent the night drinking in Meyer’s car and discussing the alleged affair.
“As we were discussing the love affair, we were seated in the vehicle.
“We then ended up in a physical altercation,” he said.
“In a fit of rage, I stabbed [Meyer] in the neck. She fell between the seats.
“I moved [Meyer’s] body to the passenger’s seat of her vehicle.
“I got out of the vehicle and lowered the passenger’s seat so that she could lie down on the seat.
“I covered her body with a jacket and carried on drinking.”
On realising what he had done, Greeves said he cut his wrists in the hope of ending his life.
He dozed off and woke up about two hours later.
“I then drove the vehicle with great difficulty to her house.
“There was blood everywhere,” Greeves said.
Weak from the blood loss, Greeves decided to stop at his uncle’s house further down the road in Nimrod Street.
Once there he woke up his uncle, Benjamin Pennings, and told him what had happened.
Pennings called the police and an ambulance.
Greeves was arrested on July 23 2019.
Judge Elna Revelas convicted him in accordance with his plea.
By agreement between the state and the defence, Greeves was sentenced to an effective 20 years behind bars.
Gender-based violence cases appear to be on the up in the Eastern Cape.
On Friday, the estranged husband and boyfriend of Bay mother Vicki Terblanche will apply for bail after allegedly orchestrating her murder.
In Makhanda, an East London lawyer was found guilty last week of the brutal assault and rape of his wife — an incident which was caught on camera.
In Port Alfred, Vuyisani Ncamani, 27, is accused of murdering his wife by hitting her over the head with a hammer before wrapping her body in a blanket and leaving it on the floor of their marital home.
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