SCA overturns Thandi Maqubela’s murder conviction
Maqubela was convicted of killing her husband, acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, who was found dead inside a Bantry Bay apartment in 2009.
FILE PICTURE: Thandi Maqubela appears at the Cape Town High Court on August 4, 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Last November, Thandi Maqubela was found guilty of killing her husband, acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, in June 2009. Her sentencing has been postponed as her legal team has withdrawn from representing her due to the lack of funds. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sunday Times/ Esa Alexander)
Thandi Maqubela has won her appeal against her murder conviction in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Maqubela was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by Judge John Murphy in the Western Cape High Court for killing her husband, acting Western Cape High Court judge Patrick Maqubela.
Maqubela’s lawyers confirmed to EWN that her appeal was upheld by the appeals court.
She was also found guilty of fraud and forgery of her husband’s will, in that she left his children out. Her daughter from another marriage was written into the will.
She received three years for each charge which ran concurrently, bringing her effective sentence to 18 years – including the 15 years she received for murdering her husband.
Patrick was found in June 2009 in his Bantry Bay flat, wrapped in a sheet in a room.
Her co-accused Vela Mabena was acquitted on all charges.
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