Pastor 'hired men to kill wife'
2003-09-08 18:03
Johannesburg - Dobsonville pastor Itumeleng Sibenye, 32, and two others were found guilty in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday on various charges relating to the death of Sibenye's wife Shelley in April.
Judge Nico Coetzee rejected Sibenye's testimony that he and his wife were hijacked at the Westgate shopping centre on the day of the murder. Sibenye claimed the hijackers later pushed him out of the car and drove off with his wife.
Her body was found the next day near the Kagiso hostel in Roodepoort. She had been shot in the head.
The hijacking was a pretence, said Coetzee. He found that Sibenye had hired the men to murder his wife.
In judgment Coetzee refered to evidence by elderly faith healer Nellie Thonzini that she had introduced Sibenye to co-accused Mzungezwa Majola of Kagiso hostel as a person who could assist with "someone who was harassing him".
Coetzee found the evidence against Sibenye and Majola overwhelming - especially a statement by Sibenye that he paid Majola R3 000 to kill his wife and told him when they would be at Westgate for the hijacking.
Evidence during the trial was that Sibenye was having an affair with a friend of his wife's.
Sibenye and Majola were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder. Majola was also convicted for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
A third man, Sjondo Zakhwe, 23, was acquitted on the murder charge but was convicted for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition (not the murder weapon) found on him when he was arrested.
The three men will be sentenced on Wednesday.
- SAPA