Three people accused of strangling an elderly woman and burning her house to make it look like she died in an accidental fire, appeared in the Acornhoek Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, April 15.
The 83-year-old Mandenane Emmie Maunye’s daughter, Portia Moeng (40); her granddaughter, Lebo Magopane (26); and Ps Polite Thapelo Khoza (25) were remanded in custody.
They were expected to formally apply for bail on Tuesday, but they were brought to the court late and the presiding officer postponed the matter to next week Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22 and 23, for the bail application to commence.
Moeng, a nurse at a Gauteng hospital, was arrested on Thursday, April 10, while the others had been arrested prior.
Investigating officers tracked Moeng to Rob Ferreira Hospital where she had been admitted for an unidentified sickness.
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While Magopane and Khoza appeared in the court on that Thursday, Moeng appeared the following day, Friday, April 11.
They were all remanded in custody pending their appearance on Tuesday.
On March 7 Maunye was allegedly strangled to death, after which the house she was in was set on fire.
This was apparently meant to make it look like she had died in an accidental fire, when she was actually allegedly killed. It is alleged that she was strangled to death for a policy payout,” said a provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Donald Mdhluli.
Her body was found in her house at Buffelshoek near Acornhoek by her relatives the following morning.
Mdhluli said he was not sure if Maunye’s body would have to be exhumed or not.
“That is a possibility that cannot immediately be confirmed. Depending on further investigations, the court will have to make a ruling in that regard, but also do not forget that the body was burnt,” said Mdhluli.
The drama started in December last year when Khoza allegedly broke into a house at Mataffin near Mbombela.
Valuables were stolen and the owner of the house was kidnapped and his company car stolen.
Police investigations led to Khoza, who was found with the goods believed to have been taken during the robbery.
During the process of questioning, Khoza allegedly spilled the beans about the murder of Maunye.
He allegedly confessed that he, Magopane and Moeng strangled Maunye and then set the house on fire to hide the crime.
Maunye’s nephew told this publication that Moeng and Magopane attended her funeral on Saturday, March 8.
I am extremely shocked to hear that they are accused of killing my aunt. The two were crying the loudest at the funeral, so those were just crocodile tears,” said the nephew who asked not to be identified.
He said the policy payout that was to be received following Maunye’s death would have been R600 000.
*This article was amended after it was published.
