A former police officer has been arrested for her role in planning the murder of her husband, a police sergeant in the stock theft unit in Hectorsport, in July last year.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said 41-year-old Lerato Mokoena had been arrested and appeared briefly before court on Friday for her alleged involvement in the murder of her husband, Vusi Dlamini.
Hlathi said Mokoena, who had also been a sergeant at the time of her husband’s murder, is accused of conspiring with her 24-year-old friend Mduduzi Ndlovu to kill her husband by staging what was meant to look like a hit and run accident.
The incident occurred on the evening of 13 July last year.
“Their plan was derailed when Ndlovu, who was using Mokoena's car, ran Dlamini over with the car, lost control thereafter and got stuck on the side of the road,” said Hlathi.
Hlathi said Mokoena, who was attached to Tonga SAPS at the time, had been jogging with her husband when he was allegedly hit by the car.
He said Ndlovu had fled the scene after the accident but was later arrested.
“He has made a few appearances at the Nkomazi Magistrate's Court, in which he was denied bail and is still behind bars,” said Hlathi.
Hlathi said investigations had subsequently revealed that Mokoena, who was dismissed from the police in November, allegedly orchestrated the plan to have her husband murdered, which led to her arrest.
“She briefly appeared before the same court and remanded in custody for formal bail application,” he said.
Hlathi said Mokoena was scheduled to appear on the 22 February for her formal bail hearing, while Ndlovu is expected to appear again on the 5th of March.
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, has welcomed the arrest.