Guard denies De Klerk charges

A security guard accused of killing Marike de Klerk, whose former husband was South African president until 1994, pleaded not guilty yesterday to murder, rape and robbery charges.

Mrs de Klerk, 64, was found in her luxury apartment in Cape Town by her hairdresser in December 2001, an estimated 30 hours after she had died. According to the autopsy, she was strangled to death and stabbed.

The rape charge against 21-year-old Luyanda Mboniswa, a guard at Mrs de Klerk's beachfront apartment complex, was added after a medical examination of the victim.

Mrs de Klerk divorced the former South African president F W de Klerk in 1998 after 39 years of marriage. Her former husband helped to negotiate the country's transition from apartheid to all-race democracy. He handed power to Nelson Mandela after the country's first democratic elections. Mr de Klerk is expected to testify in the trial.

The prosecution says Mr Mboniswa entered Mrs de Klerk's flat through a sliding door on her balcony, while he was off duty. Once inside he "attacked De Klerk by stabbing her in the back with a knife and strangling her". The next morning he allegedly used her mobile phone to call his employer and report that he was sick. He was arrested two days later when he returned to work.

Mr Mboniswa faces a life sentence if convicted.