Three men and a woman facing numerous charges including that of murder got their case postponed at Ermelo Magistrate Court. Their other charges include attempted murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and theft of motor vehicle.
Out of the four only two suspects namely being Sithembiso Mike Ndaba (24) and Ayanda Mahlobo (24) appeared on Tuesday, January 3.
This follows after the three male suspects involved in the case were found and arrested at Kriel.
The evening of Monday, November 28 2016 Ndaba and Mahlobo came in Mr Rofhiwa Tshifhango’s (38) house based in Ermelo, that evening he was with his colleague Mr Mandla Mahlangu (32). These two men are employees of the Department of Public Works. Tshifhango and Mahlangu were assaulted and the house was turned upside. They drove off with Tshifhango’s Audi A4 to Spitzkop Farm which is approximately nine kilometres from Ermelo. This is where Tshifhango was allegedly strangled to death by a rope and Nkosi was shot several times and left for dead.
“The following morning a farmer saw the men laying there and alerted us of what had transpired,” mentioned Capt Carla Prinsloo, Ermelo Police Station Spokesperson.
When police arrived on scene Tshifhango had unfortunately passed on and Nkosi survived the ordeal and was taken to hospital. The car was later found deserted approximately five kilometers away from the farm were the victims were discovered.
It is true you cannot run away from the law, they are bound to find you one way or the other. A thorough investigation done by the police led to the arrest of the trio at Kriel on Thursday, December 29 2016 in connection with the murder of a government employee as well as attempted murder of another. Items believed to have been stolen from the house of the deceased were found in their possession.
Further information was discovered about one of the suspects, that he had been arrested in Bethal on Saturday, December 3 2016 for being found in possession of a presumably stolen vehicle as well as an illegal firearm.
During the tour of the investigation, a dramatic twist of events took place where a 32-year-old woman believed to have been a partner to the deceased with whom she has two children with was also arrested on Saturday, December 31 2016 which is two days later after the first arrest was made. The woman is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. A press release issued by Brigadier Leonard Hlathi states that according to a short probe, it surfaced that the woman is an alleged mastermind behind the death of Tshifhango. However the other male suspect together with the woman did not appear at court on Tuesday due to insufficient evidence against them at this stage.
When called for comment the Media Liaison Officer from the Department of Public Works indicated that this matter was in the police’s hands and regardless of that the department does not issue press releases about their employees. He then later asked for an email to be sent to him but can only attend to it when he returns from his leave.
Ndaba and Mahlobo will appear again in court on Tuesday, January 10.
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