The Molopo Magistrates Court has adjourned the bail application of Agnes Setshwantsho, a woman accused of killing her family members for life insurance.
Tsetshwantsho appeared in court for the second time on Friday and faces one count of murder, two counts of fraud and one count of defeating the ends of justice. However, the bail was postponed till 6 December.
The state is opposing the bail on the grounds that the accused is a flight risk and has previously evaded arrest. The state also says it has a strong case against him.
Prosecutor Ntendeleni Tsinyani told the court that acclaimed investigator Sergeant Keshi Mabunda would take the stand. setshwantshoFaces four charges: murder, two counts of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.
While the defense had earlier indicated that the accused had no pending cases, on 18 November he was informed about a case that had been opened against him in Setlagole on charges of theft under false pretenses.
Tsetshwantsho has previously been convicted of assault. However, his lawyer, Matlantla Mahlangu, while reading the bail affidavit, said that Setshwantsho would plead not guilty to all charges against him.
The defense appealed for immediate bail, telling the court that she has high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes and has not been able to take insulin shots since her arrest last Thursday. It also says it has doubts about whether the facility where he is being held has the capacity to contain his drugs. She said that she could take bail of Rs 3000 and had no intention of calling any witnesses.
Also read: Another Rosemary Ndlovu: Pretoria woman benefits from murdered family’s insurance claims
A North West woman was arrested last Thursday on allegations that she killed her relatives to profit from insurance claims.
The 49-year-old woman was located and arrested in Centurion during a removal operation led by SAPS in collaboration with an insurance company.
For the past two months, Sergeant Keshi Mabunda and a team of detectives had been working on the case following information received from relatives of the suspect. Mabunda was appointed to initiate the investigation due to his expertise in solving similar cases.
According to Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, through the analysis and collection of evidence, including the exhumation of a body, the team was able to link their latest suspect to the team’s earlier focus of the case.
The murder, which was initially ruled a ‘natural death’, took place in Mmabatho, in the North West, where a female relative died under mysterious circumstances in March 2023.
Also read: ‘God knows the truth’: Murdered policewoman Rosemary Ndlovu pleads innocent before sentencing
Investigation revealed that the suspect had allegedly fraudulently taken out insurance on behalf of his relative before he was murdered.
Police are also investigating the deaths of the suspect’s son, who died in July 2023, her husband, who died in 2016, and her two daughters, who died in 2015 and 2005.
The suspect allegedly withdrew large amounts of money during his activities.
Rosemary Ndlovu
Sergeant Mabunda, who was involved in the investigation due to his expertise in solving similar cases, was the one who caught Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu.
Also read: Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu sentenced to life imprisonment for murder
Former police officer Ndlovu was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for conspiring to murder his sister and her sister’s five children in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, to cash in on insurance and funeral policy payouts.
He was sentenced to five years for defeating the ends of justice, 10 years for each count of cheating, 10 years for each of seven counts of abetment to murder and 10 years for attempting to murder his mother. Was.
Ndlovu received more than R1.4 million in insurance payouts following the deaths of five of her relatives and her boyfriend over a six-year period between 2012 and 2018.
Her murder spree ended when Vincent Cunnane, a hitman she hired to kill her sister and her children, became horrified that she wanted to murder the children and reported it to the police.
Read Next: Hitman foils police plan to eliminate his entire family
(TagstoTranslate)Murder(T)Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu
