The family of murdered Tshegofatso Pule says news that her boyfriend allegedly conspired to kill her has confirmed their suspicions.
On Friday, Muzikayise Malephane was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for Pule’s murder, after entering into a plea agreement with the state.
He was arrested while travelling back to Gauteng from Mpumalanga.
Malephane’s lawyer told the court that Pule’s boyfriend had paid his client to kill her because he didn’t want his wife to find out that she was pregnant.
Tshegfatso Pule’s murder accused pleads guilty:
Pule was eight months pregnant when her body was found in June 2019 hanging from a tree with stab wounds on her chest in an open veld in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg.
Gauteng police have confirmed that a 32-year-old man has been arrested. He faces being charged with being an accomplice in Pule’s murder.
Pule’s uncle, Tumisang Katate says the family finds this too much to bear.
“Our hearts are still heavy, we are still emotional. The planning and the execution of it, for what? How the prices went up; it’s like they were at an auction for killing of a person, it’s like the life of a person was being auctioned simply because you did not want your wife to find out that you have impregnated another woman outside. And this thing was simple; he was supposed to say he does not want anything to do with the baby. The baby could have been raised and there’s a lot of babies that were raised without fathers and they turned out okay.”
Tshegofatso Pule’s family expresses shock and disappointment at latest revelations:
Malephane’s guilty plea
Malephane’s lawyer revealed that his client had been hired to kill Pule by her boyfriend, referred to only as Shoba.
He was allegedly offered R70 000 to make Pule’s death look like a suicide.
Pule was last seen leaving her boyfriend’s home.
