Katleho Sekhotho and Natasha Archary
The murder trial of Ntuthuko Shoba is drawing to an end after 4-weeks of testimonies from key witnesses.
Accused mastermind in Tshegofatso Pule’s murder, her boyfriend Shoba, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Charges against him include:
- Murder
- Conspiracy to commit murder
- Defeating the ends of justice
Judge Stuart Wilson is expected to give a judgement after closing arguments from both the state and Shoba’s defense team.
The man convicted for Pule’s murder, Muzikayise Malephane is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to killing the pregnant woman on 4 June 2020.
According to Malephane, Shoba offered to pay him R70 000 to kill Pule after she refused to have an abortion when she fell pregnant.
Shoba who was having an affair with Pule, whom he met in 2018, was engaged to be married to Rosetta Moatshe.
The cross examination of murder accused #NtuthukoShoba by the state lawyer has ended at the high court in JHB
Here’s how it went:
– Shoba started by admitting that he did have physical contact with killer Muzikayise Malephane on the day Tshegofatso Pule was killed. @KayaNews pic.twitter.com/yltz0IPEzz— Kat Sekhotho (@KatSekhotho) February 16, 2022
Masterminding Pule’s murder
Malephane testified in January that he killed Pule for the money he was promised.
He detailed that he orchestrated a fake job interview to lure Pule on 29 May 2020.
On the day of the interview, Pule received a call from the said recruiter that she was running late, but asked Pule to get into a vehicle that was waiting for her.
Malephane then left when Pule did not show up. He says that Shoba was agitated that his plans to kill Pule had failed.
On 4 June 2020, Tshegofatso Pule was picked up by Malephane in Florida, outside Shoba’s home. It was around 22h00 when Malephane shot and killed her in Noordgesig.
He then drove to Durban Deep, Roodepoort when he hung her body from a tree.
Under Shoba’s advisement, Malephane posed as an Uber driver picking Pule up after spending the evening with Shoba.
A claim Shoba denies. He admitted to the court that he last saw Pule on the night of 4 June, saying Pule was sulking because his fiancé had called several times that night.
Malephane claims the plan was to hang Pule not to shoot her first but he couldn’t hang her alive.
Shoba told the court that this was the second time Pule had fallen pregnant, the first time was earlier in 2019 but she terminated that pregnancy.
Closing arguments are set for Tuesday the 22nd of February, with judgement expected soon after that.
