Ex-police officer guilty of insurance-linked murders

Former police officer Rosemary Ndlovu, who was accused of killing her lover and five members of her family to cash out on life and funeral policies, was on Friday found guilty of murdering all six victims, reports TimesLIVE. They were her cousin Witness Homu, sister Audrey Ndlovu, boyfriend Yingwani Mabasa, niece Zanele Motha, nephews Mayeni Mashaba and Brilliant Mashego. Ndlovu’s conviction was pronounced by Judge Ramarumo Monama in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesurg) sitting in Palm Ridge after a three-month trial which dominated national headlines. The ex-policewoman, who had been stationed at the Thembisa south police station, had pleaded not guilty to the string of charges against her, which included murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder. She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of her mother Maria Mushwana, guilty of defeating the ends of justice and fraud on Clientele, 1-life, Old Mutual and Assupol insurance companies. On the conspiracy count, the court found the state had not proven its case beyond reasonable doubt. This count was discharged. Ndlovu’s spree of ‘killing for cash’ was brought to a halt in March 2018 when a man who she had hired to kill her sister Joyce and Joyce's five children turned to the police. A sting operation was set up where an undercover police officer was brought under the guise of assisting the would-be hitman, Njabulo Kunene, and his friend.

Ndlovu told the ‘hitmen’ that she wanted the job done as she was desperate for cash. The three 'hitmen' were part of a group of more than 50 state witnesses who gave details on how, besides Joyce, Ndlovu had also wanted Mushwana, and her cousin, Gladys, killed. Ndlovu had no witnesses except her mother coming to her defence, while the state witnesses included police officers who investigated the killings, cellphone records which placed Ndlovu in the company of most of her victims before their deaths, documents from insurance companies showing how she had strategically opened the insurance policies against all her victims and at times gave false information in the policy documents. Ndlovu countered this evidence with denials. Her version was that the many policies that she had for her relatives was taken to ensure she would not be financially burdened should they die. While Ndlovu claimed more than R1.4m in insurance claims, she did not contribute to most of her victims' funerals.

– TimesLIVE