Durban — A Pinetown nurse alleged to have hired her brother and another man to kidnap and murder her husband will be testifying on Wednesday in the Durban High Court.
Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves and her brother Nkosinathi Steve Zungu both face kidnapping and robbery with aggravated circumstances as well as murder charges, while Goncalves also faces two counts of defeating the course of justice.
The nurse is alleged to have hired Zungu along with James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu to carry out the murder of Transnet engineer Nkosi Timmy Langa on September 29, 2020.
Mthimkhulu is a State witness in the matter and is already serving time for his part in the crime in which Langa was allegedly forced into his Isuzu X-Rider at his home near Hampshire Place in Pinetown and taken to a forest in Ozwathini.
His previous evidence was that Langa was killed with an electrical cord cut from an iron in his home.
It was put around his neck and Zungu allegedly pulled one end while Mthimkhulu allegedly pulled the other. His body was allegedly left in the forest.
Langa’s car was allegedly sold.
The nurse then registered a false case of a missing person with the police and in November registered a false case of theft of the motor vehicle.
It is alleged that Goncalves had hired the men to murder Langa because she had allegedly endured physical abuse at his hands.
On Tuesday, senior State advocate Krishen Shah finished cross-examining Zungu, who had been on the stand leading evidence.
Zungu, while on the stand, implied that Mthimkhulu had been paid to lead evidence in court that would implicate him.
“He was angry at me that I had led police to him and that he was arrested thereafter,” he said.
Zungu had also previously told the court that he had been assaulted by police during his arrest for him to make certain admissions.
However, Shah presented him with letters from two doctors who had examined him following his arrest, which only noted no other injuries except for bruising on his left wrist probably caused by handcuffs.
Shah also got Zungu to accept that he had not reported any other injuries to the two doctors.
“That was the only visible injury. They were tubing me, tightening the handcuffs, they would roll and cover me in a blanket and then they would tube me. I didn’t report what happened to the doctors because the police told me that I must not say anything otherwise they would throw me into a dam with crocodiles,” said Zungu.
Following Zungu’s cross-examination, his defence counsel Jabulisa Malinga closed his case.
Goncalves’s defence attorney SG Zwane indicated to the court that he needed to consult with the accused first before she took the stand.
“There have been some issues arising from the evidence of accused one (Zungu) because when she is on the stand I will no longer be able to consult with her; in fact, it will be unethical to do so.”
The trial continues on Wednesday.
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