‘If I’d murdered my sister I would’ve cleaned the scene’: accused cop

If I had poisoned my sister I would have cleaned the incriminating cups of evidence right away. Instead, I put them in a bucket and left them unwashed.

This was the gist of Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu’s argument on Monday morning in court, where she denied involvement in the murder of her sister, Audrey Somisa Ndlovu, whom she is alleged to have poisoned and strangled to death.

Ndlovu is accused of leaving Audrey dead in her rented room in Thembisa in June 2013, only to return the next day, alerting neighbours that she was concerned she could not reach her sister as her phone was off and the burglar bar on her rented room locked. Her body was then found.

Prosecutor Riana Williams took Ndlovu through evidence she had already delivered concerning Audrey’s death.

Ndlovu denied tampering with evidence after the body was found and refuted allegations that she had placed tea cups she and her sister had used the previous day in water to destroy traces of poison in one of them.

Police officers and neighbours who were at the scene testified to seeing her rinse the cups, despite being warned by an officer not to do so. But this, said Ndlovu, wasn’t true.

“I put the cups in the bucket. I did not wash them,” she said.

The former police officer added: “If I had put something in the cup my sister was using, I would have washed or rinsed the cup immediately after we drank the tea. I would have not left them there because I wouldn’t have known who could come afterwards and find them.”

On Monday, Ndlovu, wearing a green and white dress, black kitten heels and stockings, bowed her head before her murder trial resumed.

She walked confidently to the dock, with a scarf draped on her shoulders. She was to continue giving evidence under cross-examination by the prosecutor after a seven-day break in proceedings.

Ndlovu, who was based at the Thembisa police station, is accused of murdering five of her relatives and her boyfriend, Maurice Mashaba, from 2012 to 2018 to cash in on life insurance policies she had taken out on them. 

She was arrested in March 2018, allegedly after a botched plot to murder another of her sisters, Joyce Ndlovu, and her five children, also for insurance money. The family of six was to be burnt to death in their Bushbuckridge home, according to the state.

However, the “hitman” she allegedly hired to carry out the murders turned to police, setting the wheels in motion for a sting operation that would see her arrested.

Ndlovu has denied any wrongdoing, but on Monday Williams pressed on.

“How is it the case that whenever a deceased was discovered, you were always close by?” she asked.

In the case of Ndlovu’s cousin, Witness Madala Homu, Williams charged that the former cop “knew to go to Olifantsfontein” where his body was found. Similarly, with her sister Audrey, she was there and “the last person to be seen with her”. When it came to Mabasa, Ndlovu “knew where to go and search for the body”.

Homu was murdered in March 2012 on his way home from work. His body was found dumped in Johannesburg and it was determined he had sustained head injuries. Ndlovu claimed more than R131,000 from policies after his death.

With Audrey, Ndlovu allegedly pocketed more than R717,000.

Mabasa died in October 2015 after being stabbed more than 80 times. His body was dumped near the Olifantsfontein police station. None of his valuables were taken. The state alleged Ndlovu had taken out several policies in his name and recruited a man to take out life insurance policies while posing as Mabasa. On some insurance policies, she listed Mabasa as her spouse and herself as the beneficiary. She paid the premiums and received more than R416,000 after his death. She contributed R40,000 towards Mabasa’s funeral.

Her nephew, Mayeni Mashaba, who died in April 2017, travelled from Daveyton with Ndlovu. She is alleged to have dropped him off at a petrol station on the R21 as she was heading to her house in Clayville, while he was on his way to his grandmother in Pretoria. His body was found dumped near Olifantsfontein. He sustained major head injuries. A police officer testified that they found his cellphone in his pocket, dialled the last number on the call register and reached Ndlovu. 

Also with Witness, I could not ignore that. Remember, I am a police officer. There is no way I would not do anything when I heard that he was missing. I would go and act like a police officer and help to search.

—  Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu

It was a similar set of circumstances with her nephew, Brilliant Mashego, who was found dead in Bushbuckridge in January 2018 after travelling with her from Johannesburg to Bushbuckridge. Ndlovu told the court that she left Brilliant at a petrol station after they hitchhiked together. He was dumped near a marketplace and found with his skull crushed open.

In earlier proceedings, the officer pointed out Ndlovu as the person who arrived at the scene of Mashaba’s death less than half an hour after the call and it was her who identified the body as his. Ndlovu denied this. 

“I was called by Bafana’s mom and told of Mayeni’s [Mashaba] death. I went to Daveyton. I never went to the scene. I had not seen that officer before that time when he was here in court,” she said.

“On Audrey, my sister, I was with her. She had asked for money and I had gone back to her to give the money when I noticed something strange at his house,” said Ndlovu.

“In regards to Maurice, I lived with him. When he did not come home, I found that strange. The Olifantsfontein police station is the one that is closest to our home, Clayville,” she said, explaining why she headed to the police station close to where his body was found even before police called her. 

“I could not ignore the fact that he had not come home the previous night,” she said.

On the death of her cousin, she said: “I never knew that he was dead. I found out when Godfrey called me telling me that the landlord had said he was missing. I started looking for him at the police station where I was working, until Godfrey and I agreed to meet and search for him.” 

When she and her relative Godfrey met a few hours later, they headed straight to the Olifantsfontein police station, where they were told a man matching Mayeni’s description had been found dead a day earlier.

“But I find it strange that you knew exactly where to search for the missing individuals and all of them were found to have died,” Williams said. 

“When it comes to my sister, Audrey ... I went there to help her with money and I would not get there and see strange things and ignore them. Same with Maurice, we stayed together. Also with Witness, I could not ignore that. Remember, I am a police officer. There is no way I would not do anything when I heard that he was missing. I would go and act like a police officer and help to search,” she said. 

The case continues.