Investigators lauded for securing life sentences for magistrate's killers

09 November 2019 - 16:38 By TimesLIVE
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Three men were sentenced in the Pretoria high court this week to life imprisonment for the 2018 murder of Cullinan magistrate Victor Mabunda.
Three men were sentenced in the Pretoria high court this week to life imprisonment for the 2018 murder of Cullinan magistrate Victor Mabunda.
Image: 123RF/Stockstudio44

Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela has commended the thoroughness of the team of investigators who worked tirelessly to secure the arrest of three suspects who were sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for the murder of a Cullinan magistrate.

Victor Mabunda was shot dead in the driveway of his Bronkhorstspruit home on January 10 2018.

Thomo Michael Ngoato, 29, Paulos Fourie 35, and Thato Surprise Maringa, 40, who were convicted of his murder, were sentenced in the Pretoria high court on Thursday to life imprisonment.

The investigating team found that Mabunda had been shot dead in his car in the driveway of his Bronkhorstspruit home after being followed by the three men from his office at the Cullinan court.

“Police also found that the late magistrate was at the time presiding over a case in which one of the three accused, Thomo Michael Ngoato, who was a prison warder, had been arrested for and found guilty of selling drugs to inmates. Magistrate Mabunda was murdered by the suspects before sentencing [in that case],” Gauteng police said.

Two of the killers were arrested within three weeks of the crime while the third was arrested on February 2 2018.

“The investigating team ensured that none of the suspects were granted bail; while the case was ultimately escalated to the high court where the trial resumed on October 7 2019, after it had been postponed in March 2019.”


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now