- The alleged mastermind of the murder of Tshegofatso Pule says that he will reveal the motive for her killer's guilty plea during his trial.
- Shoba is applying for bail for a second time in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court.
- He is due in court again on 22 April.
The alleged mastermind of the murder of pregnant Tshegofatso Pule says that he will wait for his trial to reveal her killer's motive for pleading guilty to her murder.
"His motive is very clear and I will test his motive and credibility during the trial," Nthuthuko Shoba said in an affidavit which was read out in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
He also said that the man who killed Pule, Muzikayise Malephane, made it "very apparent in various voicenotes that are allegedly made by him that he is happy and confident that he will not even serve his full sentence".
Shoba was charged after Malephane entered into a plea deal with the State in which he fingered Shoba as the murder mastermind.
He told the court that Shoba paid him to stage Pule's suicide to hide her pregnancy from his wife.
Malephane has since been jailed.
But in the affidavit before the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court, Shoba dismissed Malephane's claims as "nonsense at its best" and suggested that there was more to the plea deal than meets the eye.
READ | Tshegofatso Pule's killer pens apology to family, details murder plot in plea agreement
"After all, I could never imagine hiring someone I know to take a hit on the mother of my child.
"There is not even a single movement of bigger amounts of money in my bank statement justifying the price for the payment for his actions as alleged," Shoba added.
https://t.co/By0KBr5HQV | To think I can kill my own flesh and blood is nonsense - Tshegofatso Pule murder accused https://t.co/v0vM3jz7J8
— News24 (@News24) April 6, 2021
He also said he knew Malephane because he sold "cigarettes and alcohol during the [Covid-19] lockdown", which he used to buy.
"That is the only conversation I had with him over the phone at any given date or time... I will disclose further during the trial," Shoba said.
Pule's uncle, Tumisang Katake, spoke to the media after the court proceedings and said that the "new facts" Shoba presented did not change their view of the accused.
"We never pronounced anything with regards to his guilt. We said as a family that we suspected from the onset when the first accused was arrested - it doesn't change. There was nothing much brought to the table that could shake the thought of him, to actually think that maybe the police may have [been] mistaken in arresting him," he said.
Shoba's bail application continues on 22 April.
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