Woman who hired hitman to kill husband 'had good motive' Durban court hears

Picture: Succo/Pixabay

Picture: Succo/Pixabay

Published Feb 20, 2020

Share

Durban - The State has alleged that a Durban woman accused of hiring men to

kill her husband had a good motive to

do so.

Doreen Hlangu, 41, and her co-accused, alleged hitman Mnqobi Miya, 23, face charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and murder.

Hlangu, who has been on the witness stand for two days to convince the court that she had no involvement in Jabulani Hlongwa’s murder, on Thursday disputed the confession statement she made to the police after her arrest in 2017. In the statement she admitted hiring hit men to kill the 58-year-old Telkom manager.

She told the Durban High Court she was not the author of the statement, claiming she had signed a document under duress after she was suffocated with a plastic bin bag.

Under cross-examination by senior State advocate Cheryl Naidu, Hlangu denied making any admissions to the police about her involvement in the murder. She also denied knowing the alleged hit men, including Miya.

Hlongwa paid lobola for Hlangu in 2016. It is alleged that soon afterwards they had a baby. However, the baby died, and that is when the couple started having problems. There were many meetings with the families’ elders to try to find a solution to their problem, but Hlangu continued to blame Hlongwa for their infant’s death.

She also allegedly demanded that he pay damages of R10 000 for impregnating her, even though he had already paid lobola - damages are usually paid to a woman’s family if a man impregnates her before lobola is paid.

Hlongwa refused to pay damages and this angered Hlangu and led to the end of her relationship with him.

In June 2017, she allegedly engaged the help of a childhood friend to meet people who would kill Hlongwa for a fee. It is alleged that on August 15, 2017, Miya and two other accomplices arrived at Hlongwa’s home in Inanda, which Hlangu pointed out to them, and accosted him. They allegedly ransacked his home before he was driven to a secluded area outside uMlazi where he was shot dead. His body was found a few days later.

Hlangu admitted talking to the investigating officer after her arrest about the problems she had with her husband.

“I told him about the death of our baby and about how we ended up consulting a traditional healer. I never made any statement saying that I knew the hit men and I never said I hired them to kill the deceased. In fact, I only became aware of the confession statement shortly before this trial,” she testified.

Naidu told the court Hlangu knew as early as 2017 during her bail application about the confession statement and had mentioned that she was aware of a statement and what was contained in it, but claimed it was not hers.

“If you say that the statement did not come from you, and that it came from the police who wanted to implicate you in the murder of your husband, do you agree with me that by saying Hlongwa refused to pay for damages for impregnating you out of the wedlock, then that is a good enough motive to have him killed?” asked Naidu.

The trial continues.

Daily News

Related Topics: