Johannesburg - The way in which a jewellery saleswoman was murdered and her body set alight came across as personal, and her boyfriend was immediately suspected to have been the killer.
The investigating officer, Nhlanhla Kubheka, initially thought Nthabiseng Selesho’s boyfriend had done it.
However, when she interviewed him and found that he had nothing to do with the murder, he was eliminated as a suspect.
Kubheka was testifying on Tuesday in the murder case of Candice Prevost, Ashley de Villiers and Wayne Williams in the high court sitting in Palm Ridge.
At the time of her murder, Selesho was Prevost’s client. She had gone to Prevost’s Boksburg home which she shared with De Villiers, who was her fiancé, and Williams, her former fiancé. At the house, Selesho was strangled and robbed of the R300 000 jewellery she was carrying. Her body was then set alight in her car in Lenasia. All three pleaded not guilty to the murder but Williams pleaded guilty to robbery.
In her evidence on Tuesday, Kubheka said she received a call from colleagues at 3am on September 5 last year. The remains of a woman had been found in her burnt-out car. The person suspected to be inside had been reported as missing the previous day and they wanted to know if a murder or inquest case should be opened.
Kubheka told her colleagues to open a murder case, but when she arrived at Lenasia police station a few hours later, she found they had opened an inquest case.
She started to gather information that would justify the change from inquest to murder.
Prevost and De Villiers gave contradicting statements about what had occurred the day of the murder. Kubheka later arrested both Prevost and De Villiers.
Kubheka said she also got an anonymous call saying that Williams was involved.
When Kubheka spoke to Williams, he had said “I want to tell you the truth; I was involved.” He was also arrested.
Another police officer, Colonel Nomasonto Dube, from the Organised Crime Unit on the West Rand, testified that when she had taken Prevost’s confession regarding the murder, Prevost wept, saying what had happened had been a mistake.
Prevost confessed that she had called Selesho to come to her house to show her the jewellery.
She said De Villiers and Williams had attacked Selesho, strangled her and pushed her into her car.
They took her jewellery, and De Villiers bought the petrol that was used to burn Selesho’s body and car.
The trial continues.
The Star
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