The cross-examination of police officer and crime scene expert, Sgt. Thabo Mosia in the murder trial of footballer Senzo Meyiwa is continuing in the Pretoria high court on Monday.
A man who was convicted after he pleaded guilty to the murder of a pregnant woman, Tshegofatso Pule, said he was hired by her married lover to kill her in order to hide the pregnancy from his wife, the South Gauteng High Court Johannesburg heard during a plea deal on Friday, February 19.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng sentenced Muzikayise Malephane to 20 years in prison for murder, five years for defeating the ends of justice and five years for the possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition.
Pule, a 28-year-old Johannesburg-based beauty products representative, was eight months pregnant when she was killed in June last year. Police said at the time that she was found with a stab wound in her chest and her bloodstained body hanging from a tree in the Durban Deep area of Roodepoort. Her unborn child was a daughter.
Tshegofatso Pule, 28, who was found stabbed and hanged in a veld. She was eight months pregnant. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)
The alleged mastermind behind the murder of Tshegofatso Pule has been arrested and is set to appear in court soon.
Muzikayise Malephane, who pleaded guilty to Pule s murder, is expected to turn State witness and testify against the 32-year-old.
Pule, 28, was eight months pregnant when she was killed in June last year.
The former lover of slain Tshegofatso Pule has been arrested on suspicion that he conspired to have her murdered.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and Gauteng police confirmed this shortly after the man who had been arrested for Pule s murder, Muzikayise Malephane, pleaded guilty to killing the pregnant 28-year-old in June last year.