The Pinetown woman on trial along with her brother for the alleged kidnapping and murder of her husband has explained how she opened a missing person’s case for her husband and how she came to register his stolen car with the police.
Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves and her brother, Nkosinathi Steve Zungu, are on trial. Both face charges of kidnapping, murder and robbery with aggravated circumstances.
Goncalves also faces two counts of defeating the course of justice for registering false missing person’s and stolen vehicle cases.
The nurse is alleged to have hired Zungu along with James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu, who is a State witness and already serving time for his part in the crime.
On September 29, 2020, Langa was allegedly forced into his Isuzu X-Rider at his home near Hampshire Place in Pinetown and taken to a forest in Ozwathini (in the iLembe district) by Zungu and Mthimkhulu.
Mthimkhulu’s evidence was that Langa was killed with an electric cord cut from an iron in his home. It was put around his neck and it is alleged that Zungu pulled one end while Mthimkhulu pulled the other.
His body was allegedly left in the forest and found sometime in November after a pointing-out by Mthimkhulu.
Goncalves testified on Friday that she opened the missing person’s case in a bid to get information from her husband’s car tracker company.
According to to her, this is after she had woken up at around midnight to find her husband not back home.
“Tracker told me they could not divulge information to another person unless there is a case number; only then can they divulge information. The consultant I was speaking to said the case number can either be for a missing person or a charge that is opened, then they can divulge any details about the car,” she said.
Goncalves’ evidence was that she had alerted the Langa family of her husband’s disappearance and also shared with them that Tracker required a case number before it could assist. She said she was so worried about her husband’s disappearance that she had to be admitted to Westville hospital in a bid to lower her blood sugar levels as they had spiked.
Goncalves said the family arrived at the hospital with police for her statement to be taken for the missing person’s case. “When I got the case number I called Tracker, I also gave the case number to the Langa family in KwaNdengezi and told them which company Nkosi was using for his car tracker.
“The Tracker consultant said the tracker was disconnected at around midnight. The last co-ordinates they picked up was when the car was on the N2. They said their signals showed the car was travelling via the N2 and which direction it was travelling towards. I phoned them at KwaNdengezi, relaying this information I had received,” she said.
Goncalves said after she was discharged from hospital, and as the police investigations continued, she kept in contact with the investigating officer from the Pinetown police station.
“There was a time when he told me the car had been found. At that time, he requested me to come to his office, which I did. Once there he showed me a picture of an ID document asking me if I knew the person in the picture. It was a picture of a young man whom I did not know.
“The investigating officer said we had to open a car theft charge and indeed that was done. The investigating officer said he had informed the Langa family about the car being found, I also informed them.”
The trial continues on Tuesday.
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