Home | News | MUM, SON ARRESTED FOR HUBBY’S MURDER

MUM, SON ARRESTED FOR HUBBY’S MURDER

20/03/2020 04:47:00 BY KWANELE SIBIYA

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MANZINI - A mother and son have been arrested and charged with murder.
Philile Simelane (49) of Mbikwakhe area and Sandile Christian Tfwala (21) are alleged to have murdered Jacob Mlisa Magongo (62), who was the former’s husband.

They allegedly committed the offence on March 13, 2020 at Mbikwakhe in the Manzini District.
It is alleged that a hammer was used to assault Magongo on the head.

He was allegedly further stabbed in the chest and neck while at his homestead at Mbikwakhe.
Simelane made her first court appearance at the Matsapha Circuit Court yesterday before Magistrate Mthokosizi Dlamini where she was remanded in custody until March 25, 2020.
Tfwala, on the other hand, made his first court appearance and confession at the Manzini Magistrates Court before Acting Magistrate Justice Mzizi.

Lobola

According to statements recorded and submitted in court, Tfwala alleged that before his death, had made a pledge to Simelane that he would pay lobola for her in October last year and they made the necessary preparations for the ceremony, which included among others visiting the Simelane family.
“However, after a while, Magongo who was a former member of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) postponed the event to December 2019 on grounds that he was not financially stable to cater for the event,” he claimed.

Tfwala further mentioned that when that period eventually came for Magongo to pay the lobola for Simelane, he postponed yet again to the end of March 2020.
Tfwala alleged that on February 14, 2020, Simelane summoned him and told him that she had already made up her mind that the only solution to her predicament was to kill the person who was the source of her troubles.

He said he was of the impression that Simelane was referring to his grandmother.
This he said was because there was bad blood between his grandmother and Simelane, who also happened to be her mother-in-law.
He alleged that in response, Simelane informed him that she was not referring to his grandmother, but to Magongo and when he asked her why she had resolved to kill him, she was vague in her response.

Tfwala said the, following day they went to Nhlangano to a traditional healer known as Feleba and upon arrival Simelane allegedly prohibited him from entering the traditional healer’s consultation room.
He claimed that after a while, Simelane came out from the consultation room and informed him that she had visited the traditional healer to seek muti to eradicate a murder offence.

Tfwala said he did not pay much attention because there was no one who had been murdered at that point.
He alleged that later, Simelane sent him to a certain man to go and fetch certain muti known as umlahlabantfu and thereafter sent him to a nearby pharmacy to buy sleeping tablets.

Spending

He also alleged that on the day, it was the day on which Magongo was going to pay them a visit, since he was now spending most of his time at his homestead situated at Mpuluzi.

Tfwala claimed that indeed Magongo arrived and he and Simelane went to the bus stop where they waited for him and when he alighted from a bus, they all went back home and then he left the two and went to a nearby game room.
He said when he returned home at around 7pm, he found Magongo seated on a chair and next to him was a container with some liquid but he could not ascertain what exactly it was.

“However, he seemed as though he was slumbering, and then something in me prompted me to ask him if he was drowsy, to which he responded by saying he was not feeling sleepy but was marely suffering from a headache.”
He alleged that thereafter he went outside the house to receive a call.

He said when he came back he discovered that Magongo had retired for the night. Tfwala claimed that thereafter he sat down to watch TV at around 8pm and Simelane kept on asking him why he was not going to sleep in his room which is situation some metres away from the main house.

He claimed that he eventually went to bed after a while, however, upon arrival in his room, he could not sleep since he was curious about what Simelane was up to something and he decided to go back to the main house.
He alleged that he gained entry to the main house since it was unlocked and allegedly heard Magongo shouting at Simelane, who was moving up and down the house pretending not to hear him.

She later went to her husband.
Tfwala said he followed Simelane into the other room and provided light with his phone since it was now dark to which Simelane rebuked him and told him to switch off the light. “However, before I could switch off the light I had already noticed that Magongo was bleeding from his head and when she (Simelane) saw me, she quickly sent me out of the house,” he claimed. These are allagations whose veracity is yet to be tested in court.
Vacate
He said he could not understand what was happening and decided to vacate the house and go back to his room.
However, he claimed that Simelane stopped him on his tracks and commanded him to hand her a knife which he did. He claimed that he then left for his room.

Tfwala said at around 3am, he heard a person screaming but did not understand what he was saying and at first he thought he was dreaming, however, he heard the screams again and decided to wake up to ascertain where the screaming was coming from. He said while standing at his door, he saw the door of the main house wide open while the volume of the TV was loud.

Tfwala alleged that he then assumed that robbers had gained entry into the main house and he took a pickaxe and headed straight to the house.
He alleged that Simelane gave him car keys to her car and told him to park the car near the door.

Unpalatable

He said he did as told and headed back to his room but Simelane called him back to the main house and upon entering, there was an unpalatable odour coming from the house.
Tfwala claimed that he again attempted to provide light by using his phone but Simelane allegedly stopped him.
“However, I insisted on switching on the light and could not believe my eyes to a point that I fell on my knees when I saw Magongo’s corpse wrapped in a blanket,” he alleged.

He alleged that Simelane rebuked him and asked him what kind of a man he was who was afraid of a corpse and she further asked him to help her load the corpse into the motor vehicle which was parked outside the house, but he refused. He alleged that Simelane dragged the corpse to the car but failed to lift it up and called for him to assist.

He alleged that he gave in and assisted her to load the body into the car and they ferried it to Vusweni and dumped over a bridge and they proceeded to drop the murder weapons a little bit further from the bridge.

Tfwala said the following day, Simelane reported the matter to the police that her husband was missing
However, the corpse was found by passerbys who called the police.

Simelane was questioned and later arrested together with Tfwala.