Durban - Exactly a year after Mount Edgecombe businesswoman Nalin Naidu was killed, a third person has pleaded guilty for her role in her murder.
Maria Kholekile Sithole had entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State and on Thursday pleaded guilty before Durban Regional Court magistrate, Anand Maharaj, on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.
She was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment which was wholly suspended for five years.
Naidu died on October 28 from a stab wound to her neck. Her body was found in Shongweni.
The remaining accused to appear in court next month, are her husband Gonasagren “Seelan” Naidu, a former police officer turned businessman, Constable Sifiso Nkosi and Nkosi’s fiancée Phumla Ethel Matseke.
According to Sithole’s written plea, read out to the court by her attorney, Siboniso Mthembu, state advocate, Nadira Moosa, consulted with the investigating officer, Warrant Officer Rajan Govender of the Provincial Task Team and Naidu’s family who were all satisfied with the sentence proposed.
Sithole, 41, knew Nkosi and Matseke and said Matseke asked her to help with her job which was to get clients contracted to medical aid and submit their documents and information to Gonasagren Naidu.
In return, Matseke would help buy her medication and groceries and also give her some money.
One day, she said Matseke told her Gonasagren wanted his wife killed and would pay R50 000. She claimed Matseke suggested that they find people to do the job, which Sithole agreed to, saying she needed the money.
Their first meeting to discuss the job was at a Durban beachfront restaurant with Nkosi and Matseke.
According to her plea, Nkosi said he was going to approach two men, Zwelakhe Maphumulo and Gcina Magwaza, and they would meet again to finalise the plan.
A few days before the murder, she said it was agreed that Maphumulo and Magwaza would execute the job; Matseke would go to Naidu’s pharmacy in Bellair and the two men would walk in and kill Nalin Naidu; Gonasagren would make sure all the security cameras were switched off; and that Nkosi, Maphumulo and Magwaza would each be paid R15 000 while Matseke and Sithole would share the balance of R5 000.
Sithole said Matseke was to source more money from Gonasagren and that she contacted him about the plan which he apparently agreed to.
On the morning they planned to kill Naidu, the plan changed because “it was doomed to fail”. There was a security guard and staff at the pharmacy.
Sithole said the new plan was for Gonasagren to take his wife out of the pharmacy and to indicate to Matseke when he was driving away, so that Maphumulo and Magwaza would get a chance to kidnap Nalin.
Sithole said she and Matseke stayed behind, while the three men followed the Naidu couple. She said when Nalin was kidnapped, Gonasagren met the two women and gave Matseke a brown envelope containing money before driving off.
She said they were all then paid.
Matseke apparently contacted her a few days later about Maphumulo and Magwaza’s arrest and told her not to return to Durban. Sithole said her friend told her that she and Nkosi were going to flee. Sithole was subsequently arrested.
In May, Maphumulo and Magwaza pleaded guilty to killing Nalin and were sentenced to 30 years and 22 years respectively.
Sithole said her involvement was not motivated by greed, but her inability to refuse Matseke and Nkosi to become part of the conspiracy because of all their financial help.
She said she was remorseful and apologised to Nalin’s family for her role in the crime.
She has agreed to testify against the remaining three accused.
Daily News
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