Durban — A wife accused of acting in concert with her lover to have her husband killed is going to dispute the confession she made to the police.
This emerged in the Durban High Court on Friday during the pre-trial conference of KwaZulu-Natal primary school teacher Gugu Mchunu and her co-accused Lindani Phungula.
Mchunu, 50, and Phungula, 30, are alleged to have been involved in an extramarital relationship. They are charged with organising a hit on the woman’s husband, Richard Jabulani Mchunu, in April 2022.
State prosecutor advocate SN Mbokazi, Mchunu’s counsel Martin Krog and Phungula’s Legal Aid defence advocate TP Pillay indicated that they were ready to proceed with the trial.
“There will be a trial-within-a-trial for Mchunu in relation to the disputed confession. The identity of the deceased and post-mortem report will not be disputed. There will be nine witnesses; 220 admissions will be sorted before the trial date,” said Mbokazi.
Krog said: “We will be disputing the admissibility of the confession, we would like to speak (have him take the stand) to investigating officer Sergeant Ntombela, who is erstwhile.”
He did not go into details when Judge Peter Olsen asked for the reasons behind Ntombela being “erstwhile”.
However, the Daily News has previously reported that Sergeant Ayanda Ntombela was an accused (in another case) charged with murder, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice in relation to the death of Sihle Mtshare.
The former Marianhill Sergeant is out on R20 000 bail in this matter and is due to stand trial next year.
Ntombela was the initial investigating officer in Mchunu and Phungula’s matter. However, he was arrested for Mtshare’s murder before the pair were indicted.
Ntombela is not the officer who took down Mchunu’s confession. He did however take down her statement, the contents thereof saw him having to get an officer commissioned to take confessions.
The pair’s charge sheet in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court indicated that another investigating officer had taken over the case from Ntombela.
Judge Olsen said: “The matter is certified ready for trial. The trial is expected to sit for an estimated 10 days. The matter is postponed for trial from November 6 to 23. The accused remain in custody.”
The State alleges that the married couple’s relationship had soured leading to the conspiracy to kill the husband.
“They enlisted the assistance of two individuals to kill the deceased.”
On the evening of April 22 last year, the assailants attacked the teacher’s husband at his house in Luganda, just outside Pinetown, and shot him.
“The victim was rushed to Crompton Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. At all material times, the accused and assailants acted in concert and in furtherance of the execution of a common purpose to commit the crime of murder.”
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Daily News