MARIA Mushwana doesn’t believe her “killer cop” daughter wanted her dead for an insurance payout.
On Thursday, 16 September, the 80-year-old gogo told the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge, Ekurhuleni, that nothing had raised suspicion.
Rosemary Nomia Ndlovu (43) is on trial for allegedly hiring a hitman, for R2 600, to kill her mum in February 2018.
The state alleged that the hitman went to her home in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, but did not carry out the job after he saw that she was frail. Instead, he asked for water and left.
The prosecutor wanted to know how Maria, who testified in her daughter’s defence, felt when she heard the claims.
“I never felt bad about it because I was never threatened by anyone at my house,” she said, adding that she never saw anyone asking for water.
But she contradicted her daughter’s evidence about her whereabouts in January 2018, at the time of Brilliant Mashego’s death.
Brilliant was gogo’s grandson, and his mother was Audrey Ndlovu, who was allegedly killed in June 2013 by Rosemary for an insurance payout.
She said Rosemary was never in Bushbuckridge at the time.
“She only came home the day before the funeral. She was in Joburg, as far as I know,” she said.
Rosemary had testified that she had seen Brilliant in Bushbuckridge a few days before his death.
She allegedly took out insurances against her relatives before having them killed, and had received R1,4 million in total.
“These were my family members. Most of them were not employed. I was avoiding a situation where it would be a burden on me if they were not covered.
“I learnt this from an experience where one died without any policy,” said Rosemary.
The matter was adjourned after she started complaining of being in pain.
When cops led her to the van to take her to Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre, she started throwing snacks at journalists who were taking her photos.
She was then restrained, and bundled into the back of the police van.