Pretoria - Self-confessed hitman Thulane Ngoma, who killed a Brakpan businessman, said he committed the crime because the man’s wife asked him to.
Ngoma, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering David Kubheka, on Tuesday took the stand against the man’s widow, Helen Kubheka.
He said the 34-year-old woman was unhappy in her marriage and fed up with her husband, whom she suspected of having an affair.
She was also upset because her husband transferred her car into his name, Ngoma told the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. But Kubheka denied she wanted her husband murdered.
She said Ngoma was telling lies, which her advocate said was evident from the various conflicting statements he had made regarding the killing.
Ngoma testified that the woman was like a sister to him and they were very close. She told him her husband was giving her problems. She also feared her husband’s mistress would bewitch her.
Ngoma said he referred Kubheka to a sangoma, where she asked for a spell to be cast on her husband. The hope was that he would die in something like a car crash.
Ngoma said Kubheka approached him a few days later and said this would take too long. “She suggested that I shoot her husband. I felt bad for her situation, but I told her I don’t have a gun. She said she will make a plan.”
He testified that a day before the killing on January 27, 2014, Kubheka handed him a gun. She also promised him R34 000 if he did the job.
Ngoma said he was supposed to go to work the following day and by then he had not yet decided whether he was going to kill the husband.
He then phoned her, but on hearing how upset and depressed she was, he decided to go ahead. “I just told myself I was going to do a job.”
He went to the hardware shop the man owned and saw him standing outside with some of his employees. Ngoma said he told the man he had some quotations for work for him and that they had to drive to a place where they could view the building material.
They stopped at a spot, where Ngoma said he had to fetch one of his employees. He was sitting behind the husband, who was driving the car.
“I fired the first shot from where I was sitting behind him. I then fired the second shot while running away.”
Members of the community apprehended the gunman and severely assaulted him. He had to spend a week in hospital.
The trial is proceeding.
Pretoria News