Rosemary Ndlovu trial: Judgment reserved in alleged insurance killer’s case

The Palm Ridge Magistrates Court has reserved its judgment in the murder trial of former police officer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu.

Ndlovu was back the court on Thursday to continue with a trial that has been going on for almost a month. Judgment in the case is now expected to be handed down on 22 October.

She is accused of plotting to kill her sister and her sister’s five children in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, so that she could cash in on insurance and funeral policy payouts.

She was arrested after the alleged hitmen told police about her plot to murder her relatives.

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Ndlovu received more than R1.4 million in insurance payouts after the deaths of five of her relatives and boyfriend and the former Tembisa police station member is facing several charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice linked to the deaths.

She has testified in the trial and pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.

Killing spree

Ndlovu is even accused of plotting to have her mother, Maria Mushwana, killed.

Lakhiwe Mkhize, a hitman who claimed Ndlovu had paid him R2,600 to kill Mushwana, said he could not go through with the killing after Mushwana offered him water outside her house.

Taking to the stand, however, Mushwana told the court that she did not believe her daughter had tried to kill her.

The murder allegations Ndlovu is facing are not confined to family though.

READ MORE: Hitman foiled cop’s plan to wipe out her entire family

She was transferred to a Tshwane maximum security facility centre as a high-risk inmate, after information emerged that Ndlovu was plotting to have her investigating officer, Sergeant Keshi Benneth Mabunda, killed while she was incarcerated at the Johannesburg Correctional Centre.

Ndlovu’s alleged killing spree came to an end when Vincent Kunene, one of the hitmen she hired to kill her sister as well as her children, was horrified that she wanted kids killed and reported it to the police.

After this, a trap was set and an undercover cop filmed Ndlovu telling him to burn her sister and her five children alive in a house in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.

Additional reporting by Sipho Mabena, Thapelo Lekabe and Gareth Cotterell