Durban — A State witness who previously could not be found took the stand on Thursday in the Durban High Court in the trial against a Pinetown nurse alleged to have organised a hit on her husband.
Previously the State indicated that the witness, Mandisa Ngidi, could not be found, but it would be making a concerted effort to locate her before closing its case in the matter.
Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves and her brother Nkosinathi Steve Zungu, 37, are on trial for the kidnapping and murder of her husband, Nkosi Timmy Langa.
Goncalves, out on bail, is alleged to have hired Zungu, who remains behind bars, to kidnap her husband, Langa, from their Pinetown home and kill him.
The nurse and her brother are on trial for the murder and robbery, Goncalves faces two more charges of defeating the course of justice for allegedly falsely reporting her husband missing, and the theft of his car.
A previous State witness and hitman in the matter, James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu, had testified before the court how Langa was killed with an electric cord cut from an iron in his home, which was put around his neck and Zungu pulled one end while Mthimkhulu allegedly pulled the other, and the body was left in a forest in Ozwathini.
On the stand, Ngidi told the court how on the day before Langa’s kidnapping and murder she had been in the car with Ramaphosa, Zungu, and Goncalves as Langa’s murder plan was discussed, as well as how his Isuzu would serve as additional payment for the hit.
She said that she was seated in the back behind Goncalves, and Zungu was with her in the back seat while Ramaphosa was in the front seat of Goncalves’s Golf 7.
“Ramaphosa said to her that Nathi told him the story and asked her if it was so. Then the sister (Goncalves) said what he was told was as it is, but Ramaphosa said he wanted to hear it from her. The sister said she wanted Ramaphosa to kill a person for her. That person was her husband and I got to know that as their conversation progressed further in the car,” she said.
Ngidi said that they spent about an hour in the car, with the three discussing the plot further.
“When they were discussing the killing of the husband Ramaphosa asked how much it would be. The sister said it would be R15 000, then Ramaphosa complained that that was little money. The sister said after you kill him you can sell his car.”
Ngidi is the last State witness in the matter, following which the defence will present its case to the court.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News