Picture File: Ntuthuko Shoba appears for masterminding the murder of Tshegofatso Pule at Johannesburg High Court, 24 January 2021, on the first day of his murder trial. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The Johannesburg High Court on Friday granted an application by the alleged mastermind behind Tshegofatso Pule’s murder to have his case reopened.
The case was reopened after Ntuthuko Shoba’s legal team submitted CCTV footage to the high court as new evidence.
The footage is from the night that Pule was picked up by her convicted killer, Muzikayise Malephane, from Shoba’s complex in Florida, west of Johannesburg.
Shoba wants the court to consider the CCTV footage before judgment can be delivered in the murder trial.
The trial wrapped up last month after state prosecutor advocate Faghre Mohammed and Shoba’s lawyer, advocate Norman Makhubela, presented their closing arguments in the matter.
Judgment was then reserved, but Shoba applied for the case to be reopened in order to sway the judge based on the CCTV footage.
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Shoba is facing charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and defeating the ends of justice for his alleged involvement in Pule’s murder.
The 32-year-old has been in police custody since he was denied bail for the third time in September last year.
Pule was eight months pregnant when she was killed by Mzikayise Malephane. She was found stabbed and hanging from a tree in Roodepoort.
Malephane, who confessed to killing Pule, claimed Shoba hired him to kill Pule. He is currently serving 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to murder in February 2021 and turned state witness.
Judgment in the murder trial is expected to be handed down on 25 March 2022.
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