Lerato sent her cousin money — bank official confirms

A bank official has submitted evidence that proves a woman accused of killing her ex-boyfriend and passing off his body as her husband's to claim insurance gave her cousin money a month after the “burial” despite her denying that and claiming she was at a psychiatric hospital at the time.

The evidence before the Pretoria high court is that a month after “burying” her husband Sibusiso who had allegedly died in a fire, Lerato Mahlangu gave her cousin money to go to Mpumalanga to start a car wash business and warned him not to be shocked by what he would see there.

When Chand Themba arrived there, he was picked up by Sibusiso, whom he believed to be dead. It is believed that her husband being alive is was what Lerato had meant when she said the cousin should not be shocked when he arrived in Mpumalanga.

However, Lerato said she did not know anything about that as she was in a psychiatric hospital at the time. 

On Monday, state prosecutor Vusimuzi Tshabalala called a Capitec forensic representative to confirm a payment Lerato made to Themba.

Mandla Mabena told the court the payment was made from Lerato’s account.

“On February 13 [2022] Lerato made a R1,000 payment via USSD, a cellphone banking app, to Themba.

“Themba received a payment and on February 14 he made a withdrawal of R800,” Mabena said

Lerato’s lawyer Lidile Mphela asked if a payment could be made by other people who have the account holder's details.

Mabena said it could. However, he added that one would have to have the password to authorise the payment and according to Capitec, only the owner of the account has the passcode.

The court has previously heard that Lerato gave Themba R1,000 to to start the car wash business.

Lerato, through her lawyer Mphela, had denied making the payment, saying she was in the psychiatric clinic at the time.

She accused Themba of fabricating evidence against her.

“My client will tell this court that at that time she was at Vista Clinic, a psychiatric hospital, and if she wanted to meet you, she would have said you should come to the hospital not [go to] Secunda. Your version is not true and you are told what to say because you want to benefit from their house once they are convicted,” said Mphela.

After Mabena’s short testimony on the payment, Tshabalala closed the state's case.

The defence lawyers then asked for the matter to be postponed to Tuesday to allow them time to prepare their case.

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