Lerato Mahlangu alleges abusive marriage led to ex-lover's death

Sibusiso Mahlangu, the man convicted of killing his wife's ex-boyfriend, allegedly forced her to sleep with other men after he found out she was cheating on him with the deceased. 

Mahlangu's wife, Lerato, told the Pretoria high court during mitigation of sentencing on Wednesday that her husband became abusive towards her when he learnt that she had cheated with her now late former boyfriend Sibusiso Sithebe. 

The two have been convicted for Sithebe's January 2022 murder and were also found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of fraud in November. The fraud is linked to an insurance payout of R575,000 on a policy that was taken out by Lerato on Sithebe's life. The couple had a child together.

With tears in her eyes, Lerato told the court that her co-accused abused her throughout their marriage which began in 2018 and this worsened soon after she fell pregnant with Mahlangu's child.

“He told me that we shouldn't have children because I was the only one employed in our house. I was already five months into the pregnancy and he told me that I needed an abortion. He gave me [abortion] pills and I later had a miscarriage and papa Sihle [Sithebe] was supportive. He got me everything I wanted,” she said.

Lerato said after the miscarriage, she decided to cheat on Mahlangu.

“I cheated and later confessed to him. I cheated because I wanted to explore and he then told me that because I could not stick to one man, he'd arrange for me to sleep with men. He abused me emotionally and financially,” said Lerato.

She said Mahlangu started assaulting her in January 2022. 

“He made me feel bad that I cheated and my family hated me. I was under his mercy. He had a way in which when he spoke to me, I would feel belittled,” she said.

After Mahlangu found out that she was still seeing Sithebe, he allegedly forced her to bring him to their home in Soshanguve, Tshwane, so they could talk man-to-man.

“I told him that I wouldn't bring a third person into our marriage but he [Mahlangu] insisted and slapped me. He said he'd kill me if I refused.”

She met Sithebe at a guest house and the two went to the couple's house together. 

“I had informed him [Sithebe] that there was no-one inside the house but before we could enter the house I told him that my husband knew about our affair.”

She said that Mahlangu ordered her to leave once they got inside the house and she went back to the guest house. 

Sithebe's body was discovered hours later after a fire at the couple's home. Many people including family and neighbours were under the impression that the charred body was that of Mahlangu. 

Mahlangu maintained his innocence throughout the trial, however, on Tuesday he confessed to having murdered Sithebe and forcing Lerato to partake in concealing it. 

During her plea on Wednesday, Lerato broke down, resulting in judge Mokhine Mosopa ordering the matter to stand down for some time.

SowetanLIVE