Durban - A Mariannhill businesswoman became a target when she inherited her husband’s taxi business and was gunned down in her home.
The two men allegedly responsible for her murder, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to 30-year-old Obert Khumbulani Zuma’s plea explanation, he was forced by the police into confessing to the crime after an alleged assault.
His co-accused, 41-year-old Zamukuthini Zindoda Dlamini, claimed he did not murder Jennet Busisiwe Gumede and neither did he participate in the murder.
State advocate, Krishen Shah, told Durban High Court Judge Mohini Moodley the State would lead evidence to show the men acted in concert and that “they may have been sent there to execute the deceased”.
After a delayed start to the trial, the pair also pleaded not guilty to possessing an unlicensed firearm.
According to the indictment, the deceased was the widow of Babo Michael Gumede who, in his will, left to the deceased his entire estate, which included, a taxi business and ownership of minibus taxis.
On May 13, 2014, Gumede was at her home in Mariannhill with her domestic worker and a caregiver.
Gumede used to sell beer from her garage. Her domestic worker and caregiver were serving customers and also preparing food in the garage when it is alleged the two accused arrived, armed with concealed handguns.
It is further alleged the pair bought beers and drank them in the garage. Zuma and Dlamini apparently drew their guns and started shooting.
Gumede tried to escape her attackers by running back into her house, but the men followed her until she collapsed inside her bedroom. The men then fled.
A relative took Gumede to Crompton Hospital in Pinetown where she was treated and transferred to Westville Hospital.
She was discharged and died at her home on June 23, 2014.
The post-mortem examination found her cause of death to be “complications associated with gunshot wounds”.
Reading out Zuma’s plea explanation, his attorney Shaheen Seedat, instructed by Legal Aid, said his client denied being at the crime scene. He said on the day of his arrest in June 2014, the police were firing shots outside the hostel he lived in, in Clermont. Afraid, because he had been shot before outside the hostel, he hid in his wardrobe.
At the police station, he claimed he was assaulted and forced into making a confession. He also claimed he was wrongly identified at an identity parade, which was not conducted properly.
According to Dlamini’s plea statement, he denied the allegations against him and said on the day of his arrest, also in June, he was at work as a security guard at Efabeni Sports Ground in Tugela Ferry.
He said the police came to the grounds and searched his guard room where they recovered a gun. “I didn’t put the gun there,” he said.
The trial continues.
@noeleneb
Daily News