Yende’s ‘killer used services of a sangoma’
State claims accused wanted crime ‘invisible’
Eskom technician and murder accused David Ngwenya allegedly enlisted the services of a sangoma to make him and his accomplices invisible in the murder of Thembisile Yende.
Investigating officer Lieutenant-Colonel Christo Lotz told the Springs Magistrate’s Court yesterday that Ngwenya used the services of a sangoma so that their crime would become “invisible”.
However, Lotz said he didn’t get enough time to interrogate the sangoma to find out if he was paid.
“It is my understanding that the sangoma wouldn’t have helped without being paid. One of the suspects is a family member of the sangoma,” Lotz said during cross-examination.
The court heard that Ngwenya had been seeing Yende for over a year and was a frequent visitor at the Pieterboth substation in Springs.
Lotz said Ngwenya was pointed out during an identity parade by a key witness who has since fled from Soweto fearing for his life. “There were nine people lined up for parade and only Ngwenya was positively identified. The witness was very sure [of] him,” he said.
However, Ngwenya’s lawyer Advocate Francois Roets said although there were nine people, the witness could have been mistaken. “The state’s evidence relies on a sangoma, who claims he can make people invisible. The state also had enough time to go back to the witness and ask him if he was paid to make people invisible.”
The court also heard that Ngwenya was the same employee who Yende had lodged several complaints against.
In opposing Ngwenya’s bail, prosecutor Abrie Classen said certain outstanding evidence still needed to be collected from various witnesses.
“Yende’s mother told me that Ngwenya fought with Yende several times,” he said. However, Roets said it was normal for two people involved in a relationship to occasionally argue or fight. Classen also said Ngwenya was found in possession of several keys, including one to the storeroom where Yende’s body was found.
Police were now looking for two other men, known only as Mpho and Mkhize, in connection with Yende’s death. “He [Ngwenya] was told she was going to spill the beans. She was then strangled and hit with a blunt object in her head.”
Classen also said there were no exceptional circumstances to grant Ngwenya bail.
Magistrate Cornell Pretorius postponed the bail judgment to tomorrow.
Yende’s mother told me that [David] Ngwenya fought with [Thembisile] Yende several times Abrie Classen STATE PROSECUTOR