Husband and three hitmen sentenced to life for wife murder 

The Limpopo High Court in Polokwane sentenced Stanley Thabo Leshabane [58] and three hitmen to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane and her business partner, Tebogo Mphuti. The deceased who was a Chartered accountant and Mphuti were shot and killed while sitting inside a Mercedes-Benz by hitmen hired by Stanley Leshabane on 10 October 2020 around the Polokwane Industrial area.

Evidence was led that the two deceased met an estate agent at Zune Street in Polokwane. The estate agent testified that she met with the deceased and they were viewing a property that they wanted to rent for purposes of a business.

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After the deceased viewed the building, they went to their vehicle. She further testified that she saw three African males approaching the deceased’s vehicle. They were carrying things that looked like firearms and they started shooting at the two deceased who were sitting inside the motor vehicle.

Another state witness testified that he heard gunshots near the property where he was working. After hearing the shots, he observed and saw the estate agent trying to reverse her car. He further saw three guys running towards the maroon car which was moving slowly. They entered the maroon vehicle and it sped off.

STANLEY THABO LESHABANE SENTENCED TO LIEF FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE AND HER BUSINESS PARTNER

The investigating officer testified that they investigated the crime scene and found that the buildings nearby had CCTV cameras. After viewing the CCTV cameras, he requested an expert to download them and proceeded to investigate at the toll gates. The investigations established that the accused vehicle passed through the toll gates. He then applied for a section 205 of Act 51 of 1977 subpoena to obtain the registration number of the accused’s car.

Thereafter, they applied to various tracking companies to ascertain if the car had a tracking device. The police received a tracker report of the accused’s vehicle. It was discovered that the car was owned by Richard Zulu. Richard Zulu died whilst in custody before the commencement of the trial.

Several police witnesses proceeded to the address where the car used to park on a daily basis. Further, they used GPS coordinates which led them to the arrests of Ndondo Buthelezi, Thembelani Dlamini and Sfiso Phiyose. 

During the arrest of Zulu, Dlamini, Buthelezi and Phiyose, their cellphones were confiscated by the police. The witnesses testified that during the investigations, they established that the deceased vehicle was fitted with a tracker and they applied for the report.

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The state-led evidence of two experts from tracking companies. They testified that the vehicle of the accused followed that of the deceased from the hotel where the deceased slept until the crime scene.

The state-led evidence of cellphone experts and he testified that from Gauteng the cellphone of the Dlamini, Zulu and Phiyose moved parallel with the car that was spotted at the crime scene. The cellphone records of the accused activated the towers from Germiston on 10 October 2020 and proceeded to activate various towers along the way to Polokwane.

The accused and one deceased cellphone activated the same tower at the crime scene almost before they were killed.  Thereafter, the accused’s cellphones activated the towers along the way to Germiston.

The state led evidence of Mamphoka who testified that Zulu called him on 10 October 2020 during the day and confessed to him that he was from Polokwane to kill the wife of Leshabane. He further testified that Stanley Leshabane contracted him to kill his wife and kept on insisting on doing so. The state led evidence during trial within a trial of the confession of Stanley Leshabane. The confession statement was admitted as evidence and on the confession Leshabane narrated the planning of the offence.

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Leshabane handed a photograph of the deceased, registration number and location of the deceased to the accused. He paid them a deposit of R5000 to kill his wife. The total amount agreed upon for the killing was R60 000

The cellphone expert testified about the exchange of incoming and outgoing calls among the accused persons. The accused in their defence alleged that they did not know each other.  The state further led evidence from ballistic experts, and during the evidence, it was established that the firearm that was found in possession of accused Buthelezi was not the firearm that fired the cartridges recovered at the crime scene.

The court accepted the evidence of the state witnesses and rejected the evidence of the accused. The court convicted all the accused on two murder charges of both deceased persons. The accused  Ndondo Buthelezi was further convicted on the charges of possession of firearms and ammunition, Leshabane, Dlamini and Phiyose were acquitted on possession of firearms and ammunition charges. 

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The Court Preparation Officer (CPO), Morongwe Moifo gave emotional support to the witnesses in court. Two Victim Impact Statements were facilitated and completed. Witnesses were brave enough to take the stand to tell the court about the impact of crime suffered as a result. 

In aggravation of sentence, the stepson of Leshabane testified that he and his siblings are surviving by getting counselling and the children are asking themselves why their mom was killed. Senior State advocate George Sekhukhune argued that the crime was carefully planned. The accused chose the location far away from Gauteng where the deceased were residing. They carefully planned the execution location so that they may not be easily traced. He further argued that the community of ga-Matlala suffered a great loss by not getting the library which was supposed to be built by Makoena.

The deceased Makoena was providing jobs to the community by hiring people to work at her event company. She also donated R300 monthly to an orphanage home to support children who were left behind by their parents. Furthermore, her minor children are surviving by receiving trauma counselling bi-weekly at their school. He further argued that the gravity of the offences by far outweighs the personal circumstances of the accused persons. He concluded by saying that the court should not deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence.

Judge Geriet Muller sentenced the accused persons to direct life imprisonment and declared them unfit to possess firearms.