The wife of the man killed inside the Picbel Parkade saw her husband with a gun less than an hour before he was murdered.
|||Cape Town - The wife of the man killed inside the Picbel Parkade after a diamond deal went wrong saw her husband with her father’s gun less than an hour before her husband was murdered, she testified.
Roxanne Ivaniservic took the stand in the Cape Town Regional Court last week in the case against Dudley Bernicchi, who has been charged with murdering Ryan Ivaniservic in his office on November 2, 2011.
Roxanne Ivaniservic said she remembered that morning “very well”.
“He (Ryan Ivaniservic) woke up and took my two children to school and came home. He wrote notes regarding business dealings he had done with the accused… we parted ways,” she said.
She said that at 11.20am her husband told her he was in Bernicchi’s office. She said she needed the keys to the flat because she would be fetching the children at school.
Roxanne Ivaniservic said the traffic was very bad, so they agreed to meet close to the Castle. Her husband walked to meet her.
“He was calm, fine. I didn’t like the accused and questioned him (her husband) intently about why he was going on with this. He said he needed to sort things out,” she said.
She said she saw her father’s gun, jewellery and money inside her husband’s bag when he reached for the keys.
He then returned to Bernicchi’s office.
The State alleges Ryan Ivaniservic owed Bernicchi money for three diamonds worth R360 000.
At the time of Bernicchi’s arrest in his office, a gun was on his desk and Ryan Ivaniservic’s body lay face down in the office. He had been shot in the heart and shoulder.
When Roxanne Ivaniservic arrived home she called her husband. There was no answer.
“I knew something was wrong because there was no way he wouldn’t respond,” she said.
Soon afterwards, a police officer answered her husband’s phone and said she should go to Cape Town Central police station. On her way, she saw the ambulances and commotion outside the Picbel Parkade building and went inside. It was established that her husband had been killed.
During cross-examination, the court heard that the gun in question was a Smith and Wesson .40 automatic pistol but that Roxanne’s father made a statement to police saying he owned a .45 Colt.
Asked to comment, Roxanne said: “If my husband had 10 firearms in his bag, it does not give your client the right to kill my husband.”
The trial continues on July 22.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus