UPDATE | Bushbuckridge policewoman accused of masterminding husband’s murder remanded in custody again
She briefly appeared in the Mapulaneng Magistrate’s Court, but her bail application was postponed to March 17 for the appointment of a prosecutor.
Sergeant Nyiko Jacobeth Nyathi (42), the policewoman who is facing charges of being the mastermind behind the assassination of her husband briefly appeared in the Mapulaneng Magistrate’s Court today, Wednesday, March 12.
She was again remanded in custody pending her next court appearance on Monday, March 17, for the appointment of a prosecutor who will handle her bail application.
Nyathi handed herself over to the Bushbuckridge Police Station, where she is a detective, on Monday, March 10. This after she disappeared from the same station shortly before the police were about to arrest her on Friday, March 7.
She is accused of hiring hitmen to kill her estranged husband, Alber Mashego (44), and Victoria Lebjane (44), his pregnant girlfriend.
A group of armed men attacked Mashego at his home in Boikhotso near Bushbuckridge. They demanded his bank card, but he told them it was with Lebjane, who lived in Zoeknog a few kilometres away. They then demanded money and cellphones, before forcing Mashego to phone Lebjane to make arrangements to collect the bank card. His attackers then took his cars to drive to his girlfriend’s house.
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Upon arrival at Lebjane’s residence, the perpetrators ordered Mashego to knock on the door. He quickly entered the house and closed the door again, but his attackers shot through it, killing the couple. They then retrieved the bank card from her pocket and fled the scene,” said the NPA’s regional spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa.
The perpetrators searched the couple and managed to steal R4 000 in cash and Mashego’s bank card, which is said to have been in Lebjane’s pocket.
Investigations led to the arrest of four suspects, including Witness Monareng (28), who pleaded guilty after his fingerprints were found at the crime scene. He was sentenced to 77 years behind bars for premeditated murder, armed robbery, theft and kidnapping.
The other accused, Themba Mokoena, Thabang Malumane and Thabiso Malope, are still on trial.
