Tshegofatso Pule’s murder: State’s case jeopardised

The state’s case against Ntuthuko Shoba, 32, appeared on shaky ground on Thursday after extracts from a statement which its star witness had made to police – and which he now admits contained lies – were read out in the High Court in Johannesburg.

Muzikayise Malephane, also 32, last year pleaded guilty to having murdered expectant mother Tshegofatso Pule, but claimed he was a hired hand and that Shoba – whose child she was pregnant with at the time – was his paymaster.

On his version, he picked Pule up from Shoba’s house that evening under the pretence that he was an Uber driver. He later shot and killed her and hanged her body from a tree in Durban Deep, where she was later found.

But in an initial statement he had made to police – in which he now admits he lied – Malephane placed Shoba at the scene and alleged he was the one who killed Pule.

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Shoba’s counsel, advocate Norman Makhubela, put various parts of the statement to Malephane.

He accused Malephane of being “obsessed” with punishing Shoba after learning Shoba had provided police with incriminating footage of him picking up Pule that evening.

Malephane conceded he had initially lied and that he was, indeed, angry at Shoba over the footage.

He insisted, however, he was now telling the truth. Makhubela suggested to Malephane that he had only changed his story after realising that the physical evidence showed Shoba never left his home that night.

Malephane denied this.

“That’s not true,” he said.

“What I decided was to do the right thing. I spoke to my legal team and they also advised me to do the right thing, so that the Pule family could get closure.”

Harrowing details around Pule’s last moments also emerged in court on Thursday.

Asked by Makhubela if Pule had not been suspicious of the route they were taking after he had picked her up that evening, Malephane answered in the affirmative.

“She was surprised, she even asked me why I wasn’t taking her home and I told her that there was something I had to drop off,” Malephane said.

“What happened at the open veld?” Makhubela pressed him.

“I parked the car on the side and [got out]. I had a firearm in my hand and I opened the door on Ms Pule’s side, grabbed her by the hand and told her to get out of the car, and shot her.

“After I shot her, I picked her up and put her back in the car in the back seat,” came his response – which was met with tears from Pule’s loved ones in the gallery.

The case continues.