Ntuthuko Shoba’s application for leave to appeal his murder conviction and life sentence has been rejected by the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday.
In July, Shoba was sentenced to life in jail for orchestrating the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Tshegofatso Pule. Pule was eight months pregnant when she was brutally murdered in June 2020.
Judge Stewart Wilson said he did not make a mistake in reviewing the evidence and ultimately sentencing him.
“There’s no reasonable doubt on Shoba being guilty. No reason to suspects an appeal court would reject [hitman] Muzikayise Malephane’s version of events. I had been keenly aware I might make mistakes [so exercised due caution].
“There is no sufficient reason to grant leave to appeal. It would be an exercise in judicial vanity,” said Wilson.
Shoba through his lawyer Louis Bernard, made the application on Friday. Bernard argued that a different court hearing this case would probably come to a different conclusion.
Pule, 28, from Soweto, was eight months pregnant when she was shot and killed. Her body was found hanging from a tree in the Durban Deep area of Roodepoort in June 2020.
Malephane confessed to the crime and implicated Shoba as being the mastermind behind the killing, saying he wanted Pule dead because he was afraid of his fiancée would find out about his affair with her.
Malephane is currently serving a 20-year sentence.
Members of Tshegofatso Pule’s family say they feel that Ntuthuko Shoba is simply opening the scars of their wounds.
Pule’s uncle Tumisang Katake said Shoba had no strong grounds on which to appeal. Katake was speaking before Shoba appeared in court.
“It’s just wasting not only our time but also the court’s time. Shoba’s version was rejected, so I don’t see the reason why it should again be heard here in court. He can appeal until he turns blue, I don’t see this appeal being granted on Monday. We were beginning to get there as a family, to get used to the idea and also live with the idea that at least as a family, we fought, we won the battle, but now that process will be interrupted again by this kind of application.”
Source: Times Live, Sowetan Live, Eyewitness News, SABC News, image from Twitter: @Newsbreak_Lotus