Ntuthuko Shoba denied leave to appeal murder conviction and life sentence

Convicted murderer Ntuthuko Shoba’s appeal of his conviction and sentence for murdering Tshegofatso Pule has been denied.

Shoba appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on Monday after lodging his appeal through his lawyer Louis Bernard last week Friday.

Shoba was sentenced to life behind bars in July, after he was found guilty of premeditated murder for masterminding the killing of his eight-month pregnant girlfriend, Pule.

In handing down his ruling, Judge Stuart Wilson said there was no sufficiently compelling reason to grant leave to appeal.

“To do so, would be no more than an exercise in judicial vanity and one which would only lengthen the dull dragging agony that these proceedings have no doubt imposed on Miss Pule’s family and friends.”

“I put to Mr. Barnard that if I was right to convict Mr Ntuthuko Shoba, than I mut have been right to sentence him as I did. Mr. Barnard offered no repast. For all these reasons, the advocation for leave to appeal for both conviction and sentence is refused,” Judge Wilson said.

Shoba, a former JSE analyst, believed a higher court would have come to a different conclusion in terms of the evidence that was presented against him during the trial.

Murder

Pule’s murder sent shockwaves across the country after she was found shot 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 Muzikayise Malephane, who in 2020 confessed to the killing and turned state witness.

Malephane had confessed to the crime and implicated Ntuthuko Shoba as the mastermind, saying he had wanted Pule killed because he was afraid his fiancée would find out about his affair with her.

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

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