Accused widow testifies today
Today murder-accused widow Bulelwa Ndudula is expected to take the stand and defend herself in the high-profile murder case.
She is accused of pumping eight bullets into her husband, social development chief of staff Sakhekile Ndudula, at their Cambridge West home in September 2016.
Ndudula, 46, will take the stand at the High Court sitting in Vincent, East London.
The state closed its case at the end of business on Tuesday after calling only 11 of its 21 available witnesses.
State prosecuting advocate Sakhumzi Mtsila yesterday told the Dispatch he decided against calling the 10 other witnesses because some “would not take the state’s case forward”.
Mtsila said he had, among others, planned to call to the stand a ballistics expert, “but I felt no need as the gun used in the attack has never been recovered”.
However, this may not be the end of the state’s case as it could call more witnesses to the stand “if needs be”, Mtsila added.
Ndudula’s lawyer, advocate Mike Maseti, yesterday confirmed the widow would take the stand today.
He said he also planned to call three defence witnesses, two of whom he expected to put on the witness stand today.
“If you remember, during the bail hearing they said there was a woman who was interrogated by police and a statement taken from her, whom they had claimed she was called to the house at around 5am on that morning to come and clean the blood that was allegedly on the floor.
“That witness will testify that such claim was a lie as the shooting incident is said to have taken place at around 7am that morning,” said Maseti.
He said he also planned to call a policeman whose gun was confiscated after suspicions that it was the one used in the shooting.
“Even though his gun was taken from him for ballistic testing, there has been no report-back from that exercise,” the seasoned defence advocate said.
Maseti said he would also call a witness who would discredit the state’s claim that Ndudula had used one of the couple’s two vehicles to dispose of the murder weapon.
That witness will testify that such claim was a lie