Almost four years after the gruesome murder of two Johannesburg businesswomen, the High Court in Limpopo sentenced the killers to life imprisonment.
The convicted killers include Thabo Leshabane, 62, husband of one of the two women who died in a hail of bullets.
Construction and property businesswoman Tebogo Mphuti, 35, and her friend Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane, 46 – a senior aviation finance consultant at Investec – were ambushed and brutally killed on October 10, 2020, while they were looking for business premises in Polokwane.
“Thabo Leshabane; Ndondo Buthelezi, 32; Thembelani Dhlamini, 37; and Sfiso Phiyose, 40, each received two life sentences for their roles in the murders of Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane and Tebogo Mphuthi,” said Limpopo police spokesperson, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba.
“Ndondo Buthelezi received an additional three-year sentence for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.”
The fifth accused man, who was arrested by police after the murders, Richard Zulu, died in custody.
“On October 10, 2020, the victims, chartered accountant Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane and her business partner Tebogo Mphuti were shot dead while sitting in a Mercedes-Benz in the Polokwane industrial area by hitmen hired by Makoena’s husband, Thabo Leshabane,” said Ledwaba.
Two cases of murder were registered at Polokwane police station and then transferred to the Limpopo provincial tracking team.
On October 21, 2020, police made a breakthrough in the case by arresting five suspects, including the grieving husband, Leshabane.
“During the trial, the State led evidence of several witnesses, two of whom told the court how they observed three African men approaching the Mercedes-Benz and firing several shots at the women. A fourth male person remained in a maroon Hyundai vehicle, which was used as a getaway car by the accused,” said Ledwaba.
“The State was able to prove its case as they had overwhelming evidence that implicated the accused. The accused Mr Leshabane and his co-accused also made confessions.”
The evidence further revealed that the motive for the killing was marital issues between Leshabane and his wife Mabusela-Leshabane.
Before being murdered, the woman had expressed a desire to end her marriage to Leshabane. This resulted in Leshabane arranging a hit.
“Judge Gerrit Muller accepted that the evidence of the State proved the guilt of all the accused beyond reasonable doubt and found all the accused guilty of two counts of murder,” said Ledwaba.
“The court rejected the versions of all the accused and found their versions not to be reasonable and possibly true. This was beside Leshabane’s claim that their marriage was healthy, which the court equally rejected as not reasonable.”
Meanwhile, provincial commissioner of police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has commended the detectives team led by Lieutenant Colonel Richard Boshomane “for demonstrating in many ways their meticulous investigation skills by solving a number of complex and sensational cases, thus ensuring families find closure as perpetrators are permanently incarcerated”.
IOL