Ex-husband found guilty of Mandy Bailey’s murder

FAMILY members of Mandy Bailey believe they can now begin their journey towards healing after her ex-husband, Alberto Matthews, was found guilty of her murder in the Northern Cape High Court on Thursday.

Bailey died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body in her bedroom on December 27, 2023, while her nine-year-old daughter was lying on the bed.

Ronel Booysen said she believed justice had been served for her sister and hoped Matthews would be handed a harsh sentence.

“The family is relieved that the judgment has brought a measure of closure. The accused has not shown any remorse and has yet to ask us for forgiveness. We are not monsters, but until he is ready to genuinely apologise for his actions, we will not be able to reconcile with him,” she said.

Judge Danie Olivier also delivered guilty verdicts on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, possession of an unlicensed .765mm pistol with an obliterated serial number, unlawful possession of ammunition, and contravening a protection order.

Matthews was further found guilty of pointing a firearm at Bailey’s brother, Wesley Bailey, and her eldest daughter, Erin Cupido.

Olivier was not convinced that Matthews had broken into the house in order to commit murder or that he had assaulted the deceased on November 23, 2023.

He believed that Matthews had entered the home in Main Road, Beaconsfield, on December 27, 2023, after someone had opened the remote-controlled gate.

“While the gate and door appeared to be closed, there was no evidence to prove that they were locked. The accused might have decided to pull the trigger after he entered the house.”

Oliver indicated that apart from bruises that were seen on her body by witnesses and the forensic pathologist, no medical evidence was provided regarding the nature of the alleged assault. 

“Cupido witnessed how the accused pinned the deceased down and testified that he had threatened to kill the deceased and everyone else in the house.”

He added that none of the witnesses were aware of any arrangement made by the deceased for the accused to visit the house on December 27, 2024, to collect his belongings.

“Witnesses heard loud screams and bangs, and the deceased’s nine-year-old daughter cried out, ‘He killed my mother’. They found the deceased in the bedroom, lying at the entrance to the bathroom, bleeding from gunshot wounds to the head. The deceased was first shot in her bed and collapsed after the second shot when she tried to flee towards the bathroom.”

Olivier dismissed the accused’s version – in which he attempted to blame Wesley for the shooting – as “far-fetched and improbable”.

He noted that the version presented by the accused’s legal representative differed substantially from the evidence Matthews gave when he took the stand.

“The accused dismissed the deceased as being a ‘drama queen’ and claimed that she allowed him to stay at the house after obtaining previous interdicts against him. He admitted to contravening the protection order by coming into contact with the deceased and her family member. It was only under cross-examination that he spoke of how he tried to grab the deceased’s cellphone from her and how they had pushed each other before landing on the bed.”

He further noted that the accused was unable to explain how the firearm and ammunition “happened to land” in his jacket pocket and issued blanket denials to the charges against him.

Olivier found all the State witnesses credible and said their testimony strengthened the State’s case.

“They never wavered and corroborated each other’s testimonies. The deceased’s youngest daughter was frank and to the point despite her young age, while the accused’s cousin, Kim Taaibosch, had nothing to gain from testifying that the accused had confessed that he had ‘caught on sh*t’.”

Sentencing proceedings were postponed to November 27.