“It would not be an ideal environment for her,” clinical psychologist Teboho Seipati Monyamane testified during sentencing proceedings for Manqele.
She had three consultations with her in the last few weeks.
Monyamane told the court that Manqele was demotivated and had a generalised sense of fear following her lover’s death. She had lost her appetitite, struggled to sleep, showed signs of anxiety, and had shortness of breath.
Manqele stabbed Habedi to death at his Alexandra home exactly a year ago on Wednesday.
The couple had been arguing about Habedi’s ex-girlfriend, who had allegedly danced seductively in front of him at a Sandton nightclub.
Habedi argued with Manqele after another man complimented her at the club.
Manqele pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, arguing she acted in self-defence. In December 2015, Judge Solly Sithole said she intentionally stabbed Habedi and admitted to this during cross-examination.
Manqele had painted Habedi as a jealous lover whose insecurities were fuelled by his financial status.
On Wednesday, Monyamane said Manqele claimed to have had another jealous lover before dating Habedi. The man had lived in Spain and met Manqele while on holiday in South Africa.
She went to visit him in Spain and decided to stay there. When the man became increasingly jealous and possessive, she moved to
Ireland as she did not feel safe anymore. She later entered into a long-distance relationship with Habedi.
Manqele is the last born of four children. All three of her siblings died – two of them before she was born. Her brother died in 2009 and her mother six months later, from what Manqele said was a broken heart.
Manqele’s father and grandmother died months apart in 2015.
She sat in the dock wearing a black jacket with a blue scarf around her head.
Habedi’s friends, who testified in the trial, sat directly behind her in the public gallery.
