THE sentencing of convicted murderer, Ntuthuko Shoba, has been rolled over to Friday, 29 July.
Acting Judge Stuart Wilson of the South Gauteng High Court in Joburg said he needed time to consider the arguments made during the pre-sentencing proceedings.
Shoba was found guilty of premeditated murder on 25 March for orchestrating the killing of his pregnant girlfriend Tshegofatso Pule.
His lawyer, Advocate Norman Makhubele, asked the court to be lenient when passing a sentence.
He said Shoba’s sentence should be in line with that of Muzikayise Malephane’s sentence, who is currently serving 20 years for the murder of Tshegofatso.
On the other hand, the prosecution wanted the court to impose the harshest sentence, saying Shoba misused and broke her trust.
Prosecutor Faghre Mohammed said Shoba was extremely calculated in his act.
Before the sentence proceedings, Tshegofatso’s family said Shoba deserved a double life imprisonment as he basically killed two people because Tshegofatso was pregnant.
“That’s the biggest thing we are hoping for. Us getting double life will be an extra win for the family,” said Bothlale Modisane of the Tshegofatso Pule Foundation.
Tshegofatso (28) from Meadowlands, Soweto, was eight months pregnant when she was killed on 4 June 2020.
Her body was discovered hanging from a tree in Roodepoort, in the West Rand.
It had multiple stab wounds.
The judge rejected Shoba’s version of what happened when Tshegofatso left his residence on the night of 4 June as not reasonably possibly true.
He was implicated as the mastermind in the murder by the hired hitman Malephane.
Malephane pleaded guilty and turned state witness.
He was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The court accepted his evidence and it was corroborated by other state witnesses and CCTV footage that showed Shoba walking out of the complex with Tshegofatso on the night she died.
