Durban - A State witness will continue giving evidence in the murder trial of Nkosi Timmy Langa in the Durban High Court on Wednesday.
Langa’s wife Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves and her brother Nkosinathi Steve Zungu, 37, have been charged for the 2020 kidnapping and murder.
Goncalves, a Pinetown nurse, allegedly organised a hit on Langa. Out on bail, she allegedly hired Zungu, who remains behind bars, to kidnap Langa from their Pinetown home and kill him.
State witness Mandisa Ngidi told the court on Thursday that an SAPS detective arrived with James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu at her Kenville informal settlement home and she was then taken for an ID parade.
Mthimkhulu is serving 20 years imprisonment for his part in the crime.
“I saw accused two at the ID parade where I pointed her out,” she said.
Ngidi was the last State witness in the trial.
Ngidi told the court that she had been with Zungu and Mthimkhulu on September 28, a day before Langa’s kidnapping and murder.
Goncalves faces two more charges of defeating the course of justice for allegedly falsely reporting her husband missing and the theft of his car.
Mthimkhulu’s previous testimony was that Langa was killed with an electric cord cut from an iron in his home. It was put around his neck and Zungu pulled one end while Mthimkhulu allegedly pulled the other. Langa was left in a forest in Ozwathini.
Ngidi told the court how she had been with the trio in Goncalves’ car where a plan to kill Langa was discussed down to the detail of how much Mthimkhulu would be paid.
Goncalves allegedly told Mthimkhulu she would be paying R15 000. When he complained, Ngidi said Goncalves offered Langa’s Isuzu as payment. Ngidi told the court that Mthimkhulu and Zungu went to a panel beater in the area to find a buyer that night. However, these efforts were unsuccessful.
Ngidi described to the court that Goncalves, who had been introduced to her as Zungu’s sister, had been wearing a nurse’s uniform.
Under cross-examination by Goncalves’ counsel GS Zwane, Ngidi maintained that she was able to see Goncalves and was later able to recognise her in the ID parade.
It was at this point that Ngidi also told the court that Goncalves had shown her brother and Mthimkhulu a picture of her husband on her phone.
Zwane said his client would testify that Ngidi did not see Goncalves’s phone and that Ngidi did not know what she was wearing.
“You don’t remember the colour of the clothes she was wearing because you were not in the car. My client will testify that on that day she only met Nathi and Ramaphosa in the car,” said Zwane.
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