Durban - An alleged hit man is expected to continue testifying in the Durban High Court on Friday on how he was hired by a Pinetown woman to kidnap and kill her husband.
The wife, Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves, allegedly had hired three hit men, one of them James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu, who made a confession and is expected to tell the court his role in the death of Nkosi Timmy Langa.
Mthimkhulu had previously told the court how he bound Langa’s hands and forced him into his car. The trio had gained entry to the home from the main gate entering through a door that had been intentionally left unlocked allegedly by Goncalves. The men had managed to obtain Langa’s PIN number to his bank cards that were in his car, while he was bound in his home, by threatening to kill him if he gave them the incorrect PIN number.
He said, in court, that Goncalves had allegedly phoned and warned them not to withdraw money from her husband’s bank account from ATMs in Durban and surrounds. However, they made their first withdrawal in oThongathi.
Goncalves and her brother Nkosinathi Steve Zungu are on trial for the murder and robbery. Goncalves faces two more charges of defeating the course of justice for allegedly falsely reporting her husband missing and the theft of his car.
Mthimkhulu confirmed the identity of two of the other hired men in a photo album which is an exhibit in the case.
“In screenshot 4 Manzini is in the picture withdrawing money,” he answered after having been asked by senior State advocate Krishen Shah if he recognised anyone in the pictures that were captured at a petrol garage in oThongathi.
He said that the money had been withdrawn after Langa had been strangled to death with an electrical cord and left in a forest in or near Ozwathini, adding that at that stage they had been on the way to Pietermaritzburg in an effort to find a buyer for Langa’s Isuzu X- Raider that they were travelling in.
Prior to this Shah had asked Mthimkhulu to tell the court about a 20-second call and an SMS as reflected in cellphone records, which are also part of evidence, between himself and accused two (Goncalves).
“She phoned to say, with the cards don’t withdraw around Durban and surroundings,” said Mthimkhulu.
He further testified that another call Goncalves had made had allegedly been to ask “how is it going, are you finished with him”.
In another exhibit that Shah showed Mthimkhulu and asked if he recognised the area, was a picture showing a petrol garage in Bhamshela to which he told the court it was where they had refuelled after leaving Langa dead and before reaching oThongathi.
The court also learnt from Mthimkhulu that in Pietermaritzburg the men had solicited the help of another to find a buyer for the vehicle and while there they had allegedly received another phone call from Goncalves.
It was now the day after that Langa had been kidnapped.
“She told us the car was being sought and we need to remove the tracker … We found a person to remove the tracker, they were in Tugela Ferry. We were still drunk, everywhere we went we were drinking. On the way, Nathi (accused one) had money deposited into his account … He went to withdraw the money and came back saying the money was to pay the person who was to remove the tracker,” he alleged.
Mthimkhulu, who is already serving 20 years’ imprisonment for his part in the kidnapping, robbery, and murder, told the court how the men had all agreed they had to go to a sangoma to be cleansed.
He alleged that R5 000 had been deposited into Zungu’s account to pay for the removal of the tracker and the cleansing ritual with a sangoma because “we had just killed a person”.
Mthimkhulu said that once the tracker had been removed it was thrown by himself into the Tugela Ferry River along with the registration plate of Langa’s car.
Daily News