The sentencing proceedings of Ntuthuko Shoba, the man who was found guilty of orchestrating the murder of Tshegofatso Pule, has been postponed to 28 July and he will remain in custody.
Shoba was arrested after the hitman he hired told the police who instructed him to kill Pule. Tshegofatso Pule was eight months pregnant when she was found dead hanging from a tree with a single gunshot wound in Durban Deep, Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg.
Ntuthuko Shoba named the mastermind
Muzikayise Malephane confessed to killing Tshegofatso and named her boyfriend Ntuthuko Shoba as the mastermind behind the killing. Shoba feared that the pregnancy would eventually be known by his fiancée and got asked Malephane to kill Pule. The police managed to arrest the killer ad he was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
In the judgement issued in March, acting Judge Stewart Wilson said the matter before court was whether Malephane killed Pule on the instruction of Shoba with expectation of being paid for it. Wilson said there had been Shoba and the man believed to have killed Tshegofatso Pule.
“Second, the was Mr Malephane’s unchallenged assertion that he had no prior relationship with Ms Pule and that he in fact did not know her and had no motive for or means on making contact with her other than with Mr Shoba’s assistance and at Mr Shoba’s behest,” Wilson said in his judgement.
Judge Wilson found Shoba guilty of the murder of Tshegofatso Pule and sentencing proceedings were postponed to 28 July.
Source: Times Live, ENCA, image from Times Live