ZELDA VENTER
A married couple from Pretoria who has been convicted of premeditated murder and fraud after plotting the death of the woman’s ex-boyfriend for insurance money will only know their fate on Tuesday.
Sibusiso Mahlangu, 34, and Lerato Mahlangu, 33, from Soshanguve were due to face sentencing procedures on Monday, but the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria enrolled the matter to Tuesday.
This came after Sibusiso indicated that he was not well. He also asked that a social worker who had compiled a presentencing report regarding his personal circumstances, further consult with him.
The pair were convicted in November last year following the death of Sibusiso Sithebe, who was earlier in a romantic relationship with Lerato. They also share a child.
On the day of the incident, on January 2, 2022, the Mahlangu couple lured Sithebe to their house in Soshanguve, where they killed him and then burnt his body.
Days after the incident, Lerato submitted three fraudulent insurance claims with Old Mutual, where she was employed as a sales consultant. She used Sithebe’s body and pretended it was Sibusiso who had died and claimed more than R500,000 in insurance.
It was believed that Sibusiso had died in a fire at the couple’s home. The truth emerged about a year later when he was stopped at a roadblock in Hammanskraal and arrested for car theft.
It then emerged that Lerato had passed the body of Sithebe off as that of her husband and that she cashed in on R575,000 worth of death and funeral benefits in her husband’s name.
In court, the couple pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied involvement in the crimes. As part of the state’s case, led by Advocate Vusumuzi Tshabalala, several witnesses were called, including Sibusiso’s mother.
She testified about events leading up to the funeral and how they were unable to view the body at close range because of Covid-19 regulations.
Sithebe’s burnt body was meanwhile found with Sibusiso’s wedding ring on his finger.
Ultimately, Judge Papi Masopa found that although the state relied on circumstantial evidence, it was able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Judge Mosopa concluded that the only inference is that Sibusiso had put his ring on the finger of the deceased to pass the body off as his own.
He also found that Lerato had conspired with her husband to kill the deceased so that they could cash in on the insurance money.