Durban — A teen charged with murder, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice tendered her guilty plea in the Durban High Court on Wednesday, but the judge did not accept it and instead wants the matter to go to trial.
The teen is charged in connection with the 2020 kidnapping and murder of mom and child Smangele Simamane and 12-year-old Sbongakonke Mthembu.
In her plea, the teen admits to kidnapping, helping dispose of Simamane and Sbongakonke’s bodies as well as killing Simamane.
The teen was charged along with Slindile Pamela Zamisa and her daughter Andile Zamisa, however, when the trial began she indicated that she wanted to plead guilty and a separation of trials was imposed.
When the offences were committed the accused teen was 13; she is 15 years old now. The trial against the Zamisa women was wrapped up last Wednesday with judgment expected today (Thursday).
Nomfundo True Love Ngcobo and Sthembiso Nicholas Lamula were convicted and sentenced in 2021 for their part in the murders and disposal of the bodies.
Ngcobo who is Zamisa’s (Slindile) stepdaughter is serving 20 years while Lamula who was Zamisa’s (Slindile) lover is serving six years for helping dump the bodies.
In her plea, the teen said she acted in common purpose with others in defeating the ends of justice by concealing evidence and removing the bodies of the victims from the place of death in Newlands East to KwaDabeka.
“We loaded the body of Sbonga’s mother into a luggage suitcase, which has wheels and a lever to pull, with part of her lower body hanging out.
“The body of Sbonga was wrapped up in a blanket. We then loaded both the deceased into the back of Sthembiso’s car. We locked all doors and gates and we all went to find a place to dispose of the bodies. The bodies were disposed of at KwaDabeka. After that we went to the sea to cleanse ourselves.”
She tendered her plea before Judge Esther Steyn and in it she detailed what transpired in the Zamisa home on the day Simamane and her child were killed.
Previous evidence led in the trial was that the attack on Simamane had been spurred by accusations that she had a hand in the murder of Bheki Ngcobo who is Zamisa’s (Slindile) late husband and Nomfundo’s father.
The accusation stemmed from a prophecy by a relative who detailed how Bheki had his eyes gouged out at the time he was killed.
In her plea the teen said that she was the one who had the prophecy.
“After Sbonga’s mother came into the house I had a vision of the people who killed Bheki Ngcobo, who was killed in 2012 by unknown people. In that vision, I saw that Sbonga’s mother was involved when Bheki was killed. I also prophesied that Sbonga had come into my house with muti.”
She detailed how she and Nomfundo and Andile assaulted Simamane with their hands and a pipe, she also admitted to pressing a shovel against her neck.
“I and Andile strangled her with a rope until she stopped moving.”
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