Lerato sent her cousin money – bank official confirms

Matter postponed to Tuesday

A bank official has submitted evidence that backs up a witness's claim that a Soshanguve woman accused of killing her ex-boyfriend and passing off his body as the husband's to claim insurance knew that her spouse was not the one who had died in the fire contrary to her argument that she didn't know.

The evidence before the court is that a month after "burying" her husband Sibusiso who had died in a fire, Lerato Mahlangu gave her cousin money to go to Mpumalanga to start a car wash business there and warned him not to be shocked by what he will see there.

When Chand Themba arrived there, he was picked up by Sibusiso, whom he knew as dead and it is believed that the husband being alive is what Lerato meant when she said the cousin must not be shocked when he arrived in Mpumalanga.

However, Lerato said she did not know anything about that as she was in a psychiatric hospital at the time and would have not given the cousin, Themba, any money to go to Mpumalanga.

On Monday, state prosecutor Vusimuzi Tshabalala called a Capitec forensic representative to confirm a payment Lerato made to Themba.

Mandla Mabena told the court that the payment was made from Lerato’s account.

“On the 13th of February [2022] Lerato made a R1,000 payment via USSD, a cellphone banking app, to Themba.

My client will tell this court that at that time she was at Vista Clinic, a psychiatric hospital, and if she wanted to meet you, she would have said you should come to the hospital not [go to] Secunda.Lerato’s lawyer Lidile Mphela

"Themba received a payment and on the 14th of February he made a withdrawal of R800,” Mabena said

Lerato’s lawyer Lidile Mphela asked if the payment could be made by other people who have the account holder's details.

Mabena agreed. However, he added that one should have a password to authorise the payment and according to Capitec, only the owner of the account has the passcode.

The court has previously heard that Lerato gave Themba R1000 to go to Mpumalanga and start a car wash business.

During his trip to Mpumalanga, Themba allegedly received a call from Lerato telling him not to be shocked when he gets to Mpumalanga.

Lerato, through his lawyer, Mphela had denied making the payment as she stated that she was at psychiatric clinic at the time.

She accused Themba of fabricating evidence against her.

“My client will tell this court that at that time she was at Vista Clinic, a psychiatric hospital, and if she wanted to meet you, she would have said you should come to the hospital not [go to] Secunda. Your version is not true and you are told what to say because you want to benefit from their house once they are convicted,” said Mphela

After Mabena’s short testimony on the payment, Tshabalala closed the state case.

The defence lawyers then asked for the matter to be postponed to Tuesday to allow them time to prepare their case.

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