‘You killed my sister. Don’t come to the funeral’

Ntuthuko Shoba, the man accused of murdering his girlfriend, Tshegofatso Pule, in June 2020, told the Johannesburg high court on Tuesday he did not attend her funeral because the family made it clear he would not be welcome.

Shoba finished his examination-in-chief early on Tuesday afternoon and asked, through his lawyer, that his cross-examination begin on Wednesday.

Acting judge Stuart Wilson agreed.

Shoba’s advocate, Norman Makhubela, said it was public knowledge that Shoba did not attend Pule’s funeral. He asked Shoba to explain why.

“I was threatened or warned to not come to the funeral by several people, people in my circle. Some of my friends from Meadowlands said: ‘It is probably not a good idea for you to come (as) the community seemed to be looking for you because you are the last person seen with Tshegofatso’.”

Shoba said he also received a text message from Pule’s brother, whose name he could not remember.

“I forgot his name, I think it starts with a K. I do not remember the exact content, but it was like: ‘You killed my sister’ and something along those lines. Later I got a call from her aunt stating: ‘You have gotten what you wanted’.”

Shoba spent most of Tuesday reading a series of WhatsApp messages between Pule and himself, from January to May 2020.

They revealed the couple’s challenges, with Pule at first accusing Shoba of not wanting the pregnancy to proceed, but Shoba assuring her this was not the case.

The messages also showed the couple communicating regularly on a number of matters, including the pregnancy.

Shoba also read messages in which arrangements were being made for her to attend a clinic, with Shoba indicating he paid for doctor’s visits and transport.

Earlier, Shoba detailed the last hours he spent with Pule on June 4 2020. He said he had seen a Jeep pick her up from his Florida home.

“She walked directly to the front door of the car. She had a (short) interaction with the driver. I figured she knew the driver.”

She then said goodbye to Shoba and got into the front seat of the vehicle, said Shoba, adding “this convinced me she knew the driver of the car”.

Shoba said he could not see who was in the vehicle as it was about “seven or eight metres” away.

However, last month Muzikayise Malephane, the man who killed the heavily pregnant Pule, testified he was driving his girlfriend’s silver-grey Jeep as a decoy to make it appear as though Pule had requested an Uber.

Malephane also testified that Shoba approached him to kill Pule. After negotiations, they agreed on R70,000.

Malephane told the court he shot Pule in Noordgesig near Soweto, before dumping her body in Durban Deep.