MBOMBELA – Selby Mabila (28) and Paul Mathebula (34) were found guilty on Thursday in the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court.
Myburgh disappeared from her home in White River on June 15, 2016. Her vehicle was also missing, so the police suspected hijacking and kidnapping. Her body was found early on June 19, 2016 outside White River, in the bush on the way to Numbi.
For three days, hundreds of locals searched tirelessly for the White River legal secretary. Prayer services were held and search parties were dispatched in a desperate attempt to find her.
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After Mabile and Mathebula were arrested, her body was found. Community members voiced their outrage and shock on social media when it was revealed that Myburgh had seemingly been murdered for her vehicle.
Judge Annemarie van der Merwe said she found them guilty on the charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping.
She described the accused’s testimonies. “They were both lying under oath and their explanations were not remotely possible, therefore were rejected as false.”
During Van der Merwe’s judgement, she explained that there had been no eyewitnesses to the crime except for Mabila and Mathebula. The state had to mostly rely on the circumstantial evidence.
She explained that there had been three crime scenes. The first was Myburgh’s home, from where she had disappeared. The second was the area where her vehicle was discovered and the third was where Myburgh’s body was found.
Former member of Bossies Community Justice, Danie Theron, had testified how he had found pangas and a backpack, and Myburgh’s vehicle was missing at her house on the day of her disappearance. “He found shoe prints and followed their tracks, showing that they had come from the Vergenoeg Road but had not returned the way they came.”
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Theron had called Capt Ivan Swart from the White River police K9 Unit. “Swart made plaster casts of the prints which they deduced were All Star tekkies which were worn off at the heels.”
The other pair of prints had a distinct, rare pattern. Theron testified that when Mabila was arrested he was wearing a pair of All Star tekkies that fitted the pattern of the prints found at the scene. Mathebula’s shoes were found at his home.
They matched the prints found.
The next vital piece of evidence was given by Lt Col Dirk Hall. He testified that Mabila, upon his arrest, had led police to the vehicle and to the area where Myburgh’s body was discovered. Mathebula’s fingerprints were found in the vehicle, putting him at the scene of the crime.
Gavin Lunghele from Vodacom testified that after police had issued them with a Section 205, they had traced the two cellphones of the accused and the deceased on the day of the incident. All the phones were first in the White River and Msholozi towers area. Then the phones’ signals were picked up in the Jerusalem and Masoyi tower areas, also at the same time.
Van der Merwe stated that the pathologists discovered that Myburgh had sustained blunt force trauma to her legs, face and kidneys. There had been a closing or obstruction to her airways, an asphyxiation, thereby excluding a natural cause of death. “It was either smothering or strangulation.”
She explained that this had painted a picture of how the crime had happened. “They had staked out Myburgh’s home and when she came out, forced her into her vehicle. Mabila had driven the vehicle while Mathebula must have sat behind with Myburgh, as his fingerprint puts him at the back of the vehicle with the deceased.
“This is where he must have assaulted her, as in his statement to police he said that he had told Mabila that there was something wrong with her as her nose was bleeding.”
“They had both been responsible for her death. They took her with, therefore kidnapping the deceased and therefore were planning to dispose of her.”
In conclusion Van der Merwe stated that the all the evidence put together was overwhelming proof of their guilt.
The case was postponed for pre-sentencing until August 15 and 16.
