Ntuthuko Shoba found guilty of Tshegofatso Pule’s murder

The High Court in Johannesburg has found Ntuthuko Shoba, the man accused of ordering a hit on his pregnant girlfriend Tshegofatso Pule, guilty of premeditated murder.

Acting High Court Judge Stuart Wilson on Friday delivered judgment in the murder trial. He found that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt that Shoba plotted to have Pule killed in 2020.

Shoba, a former JSE analyst, was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

“On count one of the indictment, I find you guilty of the premeditated murder of Tshegofatso Pule. On count two of the indictment, I find you not guilty of obstructing justice,” Judge Wilson said.

He said the evidence all points in one direction, that Shoba hired Muzikayise Malephane to kill Pule.

Murder plot

At the time of her death, Pule was eight months pregnant with Shoba’s child. She was found stabbed and hanged from a tree in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, on 4 June 2020.

The 28-year-old beautician was murdered by self-confessed gunman Malephane, who in 2020 confessed to the killing and turned state witness.

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Malephane is currently serving 20 years in prison after being sentenced in February 2021.

During the trial, Malephane told the court Shoba hired him to kill Pule because he did not want the woman he regarded as his wife to find out about Pule’s pregnancy.

Malephane testified that he and Shoba hatched a plan for him to pick up Pule under the guise that he was an e-hailing driver.

Malephane picked up Pule at Shoba’s apartment in Florida and drove her to Noordgesig, where he shot her dead in an open field.

He then loaded her body into his vehicle and hanged her from a tree to make it look like a suicide.

And while Shoba had argued he had not been concerned with who was picking Pule up that night because he thought she knew him – even though she had vocalised her concerns he was drunk – Judge Wilson found that this was “plainly insufficient”.

“Despite seeking to create the impression of a concerned expectant father, Mr Shoba did not seem worried about Ms Pule getting into a car late at night with a man she had said was drunk,” Wilson said. “Had he genuinely not known who was driving, he would have at least shown some interest in the identity of the man who had shown up to pick up the mother of his child drunk,” the judge said.

This is a developing story. More to follow.

Additional reporting by Bernadette Wicks