Durban — Sentencing proceedings for a Pinetown nurse convicted for the murder of her husband will begin in July.
In April, the Durban High Court found Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves and her brother Steven Nkosinathi Zungu guilty of the murder of Nkosi Timmy Langa.
The nurse was also convicted for defeating the ends of justice for falsely reporting her husband missing and his vehicle stolen to Pinetown SAPS.
On September 29, 2020, Langa was allegedly forced into his Isuzu X-Rider at his home near Hampshire Place in Pinetown and taken to a forest in Ozwathini, over an hour away from Pinetown, by Zungu and James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu, who turned State witness and is already serving time for his part in the crime.
Langa was kidnapped while he was with Goncalves in their home; the men obtained Langa’s PIN numbers for his bank cards that were in his car, by threatening to kill him if he gave them the incorrect PIN number.
Evidence led in court during the trial by Mthimkhulu who is serving 20 years behind bars, was that while in Langa’s house, they had yanked a cable cord from an iron and used it to kill Langa.
The cord was tied around Langa’s neck when they were in the dense forest, and Mthimkhulu pulled one end while Zungu pulled the other, strangling the father of one to death.
Evidence before the court which was presented by Senior State Prosecutor Advocate Krishen Shah, included the cellphone records of Mthimkhulu which reflected an sms and a phone call from Goncalves after Langa had been taken from his home.
Mthimkhulu’s evidence was that the SMS was to tell them not to withdraw cash from Langa’s account at ATMs in Durban, while the phone call later was from Goncalves asking them how it was going and whether they were finished with Langa.
Goncalves and her brother recently appeared in court where 8 and 9 July were set for their sentencing.
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