Judgment day for Ntuthuko Shoba, alleged to have ordered hit on his pregnant girlfriend Tshegofatso Pule

25 March 2022 - 06:24 By TIMESLIVE
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Ntuthuko Shoba has claimed he had nothing to do with the murder of his pregnant on-again, off-again mistress Tshegofatso Pule.
Ntuthuko Shoba has claimed he had nothing to do with the murder of his pregnant on-again, off-again mistress Tshegofatso Pule.
Image: Alaister Russell/The Sunday Times

Ntuthuko Shoba, the man alleged to have ordered a hit on his pregnant girlfriend  Tshegofatso Pule, will on Friday learn whether he will swop his suits and blazers for an orange prison uniform.

He was scheduled to appear in the high court in Johannesburg where acting judge Stuart Wilson was expected to deliver his verdict on whether he believed Shoba had a hand in Pule and his unborn daughter’s murders.

Shoba worked hard throughout the trial to discount the testimony of the state’s star witness, Muziakayise Malephane, the self-confessed gunman who admitted to killing Pule following Shoba’s instruction.

Malephane, who confessed to the crime in 2020 and was convicted last year, had in January 2021 testified against Shoba and alleged the former JSE analyst had hired him to kill Pule and their unborn child because he was afraid the woman he regarded as his wife would find out about the affair.

Pule was eight months pregnant at the time. 

Malephane said Shoba had admitted he was fearful of losing his “wife”, who had reportedly come into around R8m from a trust fund

Malephane told the court how he and Shoba had worked out an elaborate plan to kill Pule.

The first plan had been to invite her to a bogus work interview at the McDonalds in Ormonde, where they would then kidnap and kill her. When Pule failed to pitch, they hatched a plan to hang Pule from the Maraisburg bridge near Roodepoort, but that plan failed when Malephane said he inspected the bridge and found it was too high to hang someone. They had wanted her death to look like suicide.

Another plan was hatched and Malephane fetched Pule from Shoba’s Roodepoort residence under the guise of being an e-hailing service driver taking her home to Meadowlands, Soweto.

However, he said he drove her to Noordgesig where he shot dead in an open field before loading her body into his vehicle and then hanging her from a tree less than a kilometre from his home.

He said he had not been brave enough to hang her while she was alive.

Tshegofatso Pule was eight months pregnant when she was found shot dead and hung from a tree in Durban Deep in June 2020.
Tshegofatso Pule was eight months pregnant when she was found shot dead and hung from a tree in Durban Deep in June 2020.
Image: Supplied

Throughout the trial Shoba disputed Malephane’s evidence, saying the only dealings he had with him was to supply him with booze during the hard lockdown when alcohol sales were banned.

Despite video evidence showing him walking Pule to Malephane’s Jeep parked outside his apartment complex on the night of Pule’s murder. Shoba said he had no idea Malephane was driving the vehicle.

In February 2021, Malephane was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for killing Pule. He claimed he came clean because he believed Shoba betrayed him by giving police CCTV footage showing his vehicle picking up Pule.

During the trial Malephane learnt police had traced him because the number plate he had placed on his vehicle had fallen off while he drove from Noordgesig to Durban Deep. This led to a speed camera along the route capturing his actual number plate, leading to his arrest.

Pule’s family has religiously attended the trial and believe Shoba is guilty.

Shoba has had the support of his father and brother who attended court proceedings. 

Shoba pleaded not guilty and tried to have the charges against him withdrawn. Like his failed bail bids, he also failed in this attempt. 

Pule's murder sent shockwaves throughout the country with calls for tougher sentences to be imposed on perpetrators of gender-based violence. 

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