A 36-year-old woman from Dunoon in the Western Cape, her husband and the hitman they arranged to kill a rape accuser have all been found guilty of murder and sentenced to life.
The woman, the man she married 10 years ago and the hitman they contracted to kill the husband's 20-year-old rape accuser before she could testify against him, have also been sentenced to 15 years for illegal possession of a firearm and another five for illegal possession of ammunition.
Western Cape High Court judge James Lekhuleni said the case exemplified the gravity and depth of the unrelenting scourge of femicide and gender-based violence that “continues to ravage our country to its core”.
Cebisa Bhala, her husband Mmeli Kheswa and co-accused Mlungisi Ntsalaz were in May last year convicted of murder, possession of unlicensed firearms and possession of ammunition.
All three had pleaded not guilty at the trial and opted to remain silent. The woman they were accused of murdering was identified only as 20-year-old ND, who was shot three times in the head on June 28 2017 in a hit commissioned for R10,000.
The court heard that ND accused Kheswa of raping her in October 2016. After this happened, Kheswa said he had been badly assaulted by members of ND's family, who dragged him to Section 28 in Dunoon, stripped him naked and left him lying beaten after taking photos of him and posting them on Facebook. Kheswa was rescued by the police and taken to Groote Schuur Hospital.
After he was discharged from hospital Kheswa was detained at Milnerton police station and later transferred to Pollsmoor Correctional Facility pending the outcome of the rape trial.
During that trial, Kheswa pleaded not guilty, and the matter was postponed to June 29 2017. Investigating officer W/O Wilmot Shane Isaacs went to pick ND up from her home that day as she was scheduled to testify.
When he arrived at ND's home he was informed by her mother that she had been shot dead the night before. This resulted in the case against Kheswa being withdrawn and he was released from prison.
The court heard that while Kheswa was detained at Pollsmoor, he met Ntsalaz, a fellow inmate who was also awaiting trial for rape.
Ntsalaz allegedly told Kheswa he could arrange to have ND killed, which would lead to the case against him collapsing. Kheswa then called his wife and told her that Ntsalaz would organise for ND to be killed, and that there would be no cost.
Ntsalaz was soon after released from prison, and met with Bhala to plan the assassination. He told her he would arrange the murder, but charged R10,000.
At 7pm on June 28 2017 Bhala received a call from Ntsalaz, who told her he had done his job and ND had been killed. He demanded his ‘blood money’, which she paid him in two instalments over a month.
Soon after the killing Ntsalaz was arrested, his cellphone was opened up and it was discovered that Bhala's number had been saved in his contacts as “Mmeli's wife”. A list of calls and a number of messages showed that the two had been in regular contact.
What is particularly heinous in this case is the fact that the murder was deliberately planned in the prison cells and purposely executed by taking the complainant's life in a tragic manner ... It constitutes a humiliating, degrading and brutal invasion of the privacy, the dignity and the person of the victim.
— Judge James Lekhuleni
Among the messages was a photograph of ND's body with the message “RIP CHOMMIE” underneath it. Messages between the two after the murder showed that Ntsalaz became smitten with Bhala.
When Bhala was arrested a month after the murder she said that she did not know Ntsalaz. She handed in her cellphone and it was found that her number matched Ntsalaz's contact “Mmeli's wife”.
When Bhala was confronted about her chats with Ntsalaz, she stated in isiXhosa: “How is Mlungisi [accused 3]? Why would he say I should delete the messages, but he did not delete them?”
Bhala then opted to make a confession and explained the plot to kill ND, which the court accepted as admissible evidence against her. Soon after this Kheswa, her husband, was also arrested.
All three chose to remain silent throughout their trial. At the time of the murder Bhala was employed as a security guard. The court rejected her claims that she was threatened by Ntsalaz, and found that she had paid him R10,000.
Their messages showed that Ntsalaz had fallen in love with Bhala and had therefore agreed to carry out the murder for a discounted rate, which had upset his partners as they had received a smaller-than-expected cut.
The court heard that before the alleged rape, Kheswa had been involved in an affair with ND. He said that he had ended the affair as she had begun causing trouble for him with his wife and had become a financial burden he could no longer sustain. She had then accused him of rape.
The court found that Bhala, Kheswa and Ntsalaz were guilty of conspiring and had together murdered ND.
“What is particularly heinous in this case is the fact that the murder was deliberately planned in the prison cells and purposely executed by taking the complainant's life in a tragic manner ... It constitutes a humiliating, degrading and brutal invasion of the privacy, the dignity and the person of the victim,” said judge Lekhuleni.
“She died a painful death. The degree of violence exerted upon the deceased during her killing is deplorable.”
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