One of the two additional suspects accused of being involved in the murder of Gqeberha doctor Bantu Noqekwa appeared briefly in the New Brighton Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The case against 19-year-old Athule Mtyobile was remanded until Tuesday.
Mtyobile will join his co-accused, Noqekwa’s ex-wife Ethel Mphahlwa-Noqekwa, Andile Jongi and Siyabulela Gcayiya, for allegedly killing the general practitioner.
Mtyobile and another suspect were arrested last week.
Jongi and Gcayiya abandoned their bail bids while the alleged middleman, whose name has been withheld, has since turned state witness.
Noqekwa, 56, was shot dead in his practice in Njoli Street, Zwide, on Wednesday May 3.
The investigating officer, Sergeant Sibulelo Yali, previously testified that Noqekwa had been attending to patients at his Zwide clinic at about 7pm shortly before he was murdered.
Witnesses in the waiting room were reassured there was no cause for concern, with the alleged killers announcing on their arrival that they were “there for the doctor”.
“One of the three men instructed him to lie on his stomach on the examination bed.
“He was shot once in his head,” Yali said.
He said cellphone records placed Mphahlwa-Noqekwa and her alleged accomplices within about 700m of the crime scene.
While at the casino, Mphahlwa-Noqekwa allegedly contacted her son after receiving confirmation from the middleman that the job was done.
The son has not been named as a suspect.
Yali said just hours after the doctor was fatally shot, Mphahlwa-Noqekwa allegedly met the hitmen at the KFC on Marine Drive and travelled to a filling station in Forest Hill to withdraw R1,000 from her bank account.
The money was allegedly meant to be used by the men to attend a “cleansing ceremony”.
On the evening of Thursday [May 4], he said she withdrew an additional R5,000 but informed the hitmen that full payment would not be immediately available.
The court heard previously that the alleged murder plot was hatched after a night of gambling and drinking two years ago.
“There was financial motivation behind the crime,” Yali said.
He said one of the sons was allegedly aware of the plot and that Mphahlwa-Noqekwa possessed close knowledge of Noqekwa’s life insurance policies and the family trust.
According to Mphahlwa-Noqekwa’s affidavit, read out in court, the two married in 2001 and divorced in 2012.
The sole director of a small business, she said her further incarceration would cripple her business and any future ability to derive an income from it.
“The estimated monthly turnover is about R40,000 per month,” she said.
“My children have been taken in by my mother in East London and I am informed that over the last few days, the police have visited that address to verify it.”
Should bail be granted, she said she would be able to afford an amount of R5,000.
In opposing bail, the prosecution said Mphahlwa-Noqekwa was a flight risk, shown through her actions when she “fled” to Cape Town, taking her youngest son, 14, with her.
Her phone was also off and she was not reachable at her home in Lovemore Park.
According to Yali, the youngest son’s school could not reach his mother while they were in Cape Town after he allegedly missed writing his exams.
The bail hearing was postponed to Tuesday for judgment.
HeraldLIVE
Another suspect linked to doctor’s murder in court
Image: WERNER HILLS
One of the two additional suspects accused of being involved in the murder of Gqeberha doctor Bantu Noqekwa appeared briefly in the New Brighton Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The case against 19-year-old Athule Mtyobile was remanded until Tuesday.
Mtyobile will join his co-accused, Noqekwa’s ex-wife Ethel Mphahlwa-Noqekwa, Andile Jongi and Siyabulela Gcayiya, for allegedly killing the general practitioner.
Mtyobile and another suspect were arrested last week.
Jongi and Gcayiya abandoned their bail bids while the alleged middleman, whose name has been withheld, has since turned state witness.
Noqekwa, 56, was shot dead in his practice in Njoli Street, Zwide, on Wednesday May 3.
The investigating officer, Sergeant Sibulelo Yali, previously testified that Noqekwa had been attending to patients at his Zwide clinic at about 7pm shortly before he was murdered.
Witnesses in the waiting room were reassured there was no cause for concern, with the alleged killers announcing on their arrival that they were “there for the doctor”.
“One of the three men instructed him to lie on his stomach on the examination bed.
“He was shot once in his head,” Yali said.
He said cellphone records placed Mphahlwa-Noqekwa and her alleged accomplices within about 700m of the crime scene.
While at the casino, Mphahlwa-Noqekwa allegedly contacted her son after receiving confirmation from the middleman that the job was done.
The son has not been named as a suspect.
Yali said just hours after the doctor was fatally shot, Mphahlwa-Noqekwa allegedly met the hitmen at the KFC on Marine Drive and travelled to a filling station in Forest Hill to withdraw R1,000 from her bank account.
The money was allegedly meant to be used by the men to attend a “cleansing ceremony”.
On the evening of Thursday [May 4], he said she withdrew an additional R5,000 but informed the hitmen that full payment would not be immediately available.
The court heard previously that the alleged murder plot was hatched after a night of gambling and drinking two years ago.
“There was financial motivation behind the crime,” Yali said.
He said one of the sons was allegedly aware of the plot and that Mphahlwa-Noqekwa possessed close knowledge of Noqekwa’s life insurance policies and the family trust.
According to Mphahlwa-Noqekwa’s affidavit, read out in court, the two married in 2001 and divorced in 2012.
The sole director of a small business, she said her further incarceration would cripple her business and any future ability to derive an income from it.
“The estimated monthly turnover is about R40,000 per month,” she said.
“My children have been taken in by my mother in East London and I am informed that over the last few days, the police have visited that address to verify it.”
Should bail be granted, she said she would be able to afford an amount of R5,000.
In opposing bail, the prosecution said Mphahlwa-Noqekwa was a flight risk, shown through her actions when she “fled” to Cape Town, taking her youngest son, 14, with her.
Her phone was also off and she was not reachable at her home in Lovemore Park.
According to Yali, the youngest son’s school could not reach his mother while they were in Cape Town after he allegedly missed writing his exams.
The bail hearing was postponed to Tuesday for judgment.
HeraldLIVE
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