A 47-year-old woman, Kedibone Lonia Nyathi, has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to killing her husband, Sandy Nyathi.
Nyathi was previously charged with three young men whom she had contracted to kill her husband.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Regional Spokesperson, Limpopo Division, Mashudu Malabi Dzhangi, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, said Nyathi, was charged with murder.
COURT STATEMENT
‘The charge relates to an incident of 03 December 2022, in Enable village in the district of Mopani. The accused was previously charged alongside three young men who she had contracted to kill her husband,’ the statement read.
The erstwhile co-accused persons: Remember Surprise Malepe (19), Ethen Raganya(18) and Poopo Ventry Mabela(18) entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the state and they were expected to testify against the accused.
The accused were sentenced as follows: Malepe to an effective 10 years, and Raganya and Mabela were sentenced to an effective 8 years each.
After their conviction and sentence, the trio became state witnesses and the case against Nyathi was separated.
In an about turn, the accused (Nyathi) who had earlier indicated that she intended to plead not guilty changed her tune and negotiated a plea and sentence agreement with the state.
THE AGREEMENT SHE MADE WITH THE HIREMEN
Her plea and sentence agreement revealed that she contracted the former co-accused to kill her husband for a fee of R15 000, she further asked her accomplices to stage a hi-jacking by barricading the road where she will pass together with the deceased.
HOW SHE DECEIVED HER HUSBAND TO BE KILLED
The accused was driving her vehicle pretending that she was accompanying her husband to work, on the other hand informing her accomplices to prepare themselves for killing.
Before she reached the workplace, she then stopped the car and asked the deceased to remove objects which were thrown into the road.
The deceased alighted from the vehicle, and that’s when the deceased was stabbed to death by the former accused persons and one of the former co-accused pretended to attack her (Nyathi).
