Convicted murderer Simphiwe Mxosa attempted taking his own life before a life sentence was handed down.
A police officer went down to the holding cells and ran back up to the courtroom calling for colleagues, who then rushed to the cells.
Moments later, the former prison warder was escorted by the officers into the dock, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Mxosa, 48, appeared agitated as an officer tried to unlock the cuffs.
A police report reveals Mxosa, using a cloth twisted into a cord and tied to the cell’s bars, had tried to hang himself in the cell he was occupying alone. It appeared the cloth had torn.
It was not clear to the media how long Mxosa was alone in the cell, but the case was delayed until shortly after 1pm. The report said Mxosa was uninjured.
In February, judge Mbulelo Victor Nqumse convicted Mxosa of the premeditated murder of Bulelwa Mxosa, his wife and the mother of four children, in February.
Passing sentence on Wednesday, the judge said Mxosa had shown no remorse.
Bulelwa’s father, James Tutu, broke down as the judge read a doctor’s report detailing the extent of damage caused by Mxosa when he hacked her with a bush knife in his room in West Bank prison barracks in March last year.
Mxosa kept his head down as Nqumse spoke of the skyrocketing scourge of gender-based violence.
The judge described Mxosa’s crime as both heinous and premeditated.
“The application for a protection order by [Bulelwa], albeit being withdrawn, is a clear indication that she was among the many women who are a subject of abuse from men under the pretext of being loved,” he said.
During the trial, a nine-year-old girl testified that she had seen Mxosa hack Bulelwa.
The court also heard how violent Mxosa had been towards his wife and children.