The Pietermaritzburg High Court, sitting in Madadeni, sentenced a 56-year-old woman to life imprisonment for the murder of her estranged husband in Utretcht near Newscastle.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Natasha Kara, said Penelope Phumelele Zulu, 56, was handed a life imprisonment sentence for the murder of her estranged husband, Nkosinathi Sipho Zulu, in April 2016.
Kara said Zulu decided to kill her husband when they stopped living together. “She enlisted the assistance of Khanyisani Biyela, promising to pay R80 000 in return. Biyela then got Mandlenkosi Shezi to help him.”
“On the day of the incident, they fetched Nkosinathi from a petrol station, drove him to an isolated area and shot him. He died at the scene, with the cause of death being a brain injury due to a penetrating gunshot wound in the head,” said Kara.
The suspects fled the scene but were arrested after police viewed video footage from the petrol station. In the footage the victim can be seen getting into Shezi’s vehicle. At that stage Shezi implicated the others, Kara added.
According to Kara, Biyela was convicted and sentenced to 25 years behind bars and Shezi died while he was out on bail.
During the court proceedings, Senior State Advocate Nkonzwenhle Mlotshwa, led the testimony of Nkosinathi’s girlfriend, who implicated Zulu, as well as bank records which showed Zulu had paid Shezi R50 000 as part payment for the murder of her estranged husband, Kara said.
Mlotshwa also told the court that Zulu had taken out more than 11 funeral policies on Nkosinathi, electing herself as the beneficiary.
Source: News24, IOL, Opera News, image from IOL