A 71 year-old woman, Elina Magagule and her co-accused, Pleasure Ngobeni (35) were sentenced by the Nelspruit Regional Court for murder this week.
The sentence follows the arrest of three people accused of assaulting a woman who had confronted the three accused for allegedly stealing her cattle in Acornhoek in December 2009 including Solly Zitha who passed away in 2024 before the trial commenced.
According to reports, an argument broke out on December 23, 2009 resulting in the trio assaulting the deceased who succumbed to her injuries. They were arrested the following day and later released on bail. The matter was investigated by the local police and the deceased family was not satisfied with the progress.
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The matter was then transferred to the Hawks Nelspruit based Serious Organised Crime Investigation to investigate the matter further and was finalised.
Magagule was sentenced to 20 years direct imprisonment and Ngobeni was sentenced to life imprisonment.
