I lured mom to killers and watched her being murdered - court hears

An Mpumalanga woman has told the Mbombela high court how she lured her mother to a group of murderers, and then stood guard at the door watching as they pinned her down and killed her for an R80,000 funeral polic y payout.

Nonhlanhla Mthunywa also told the court that her mother, Wanter Dlamini , 62, had survived poisoning and a shooting plan until she was finally strangled to death.

Mthunywa is a state witness who was also charged with her mother’s murder, but entered a plea agreement with the state after she confessed to the crime saying she could not sleep as her mother was haunting her.

Mthunywa’s sister, Bathabile Mthunywa, 39, their neighbour Nombuso Ndwandwa, 41, and Steen Mashakeng, 36, are on trial for the murder and rape of Dlamini.

Another accused, known as Nkunzi and who was Ndwandwa’s boyfriend, has since died.

Nonhlanhla Mthunywa, who arrived in court with her feet shackled, said the plan to kill her mother stemmed from a conversation with Ndwandwa about “quick money”.

“She said if I want quick money we must work together and kill my mother and my brother. She sounded serious and said that there was a life insurance on them and we can live a nice life with quick money. A plan was then made.”

She said she and Mashakeng went to Dlamini’s house carrying poison that had been provided by Ndwandwa.

However the poison did not work as Dlamini took a sip and did not finish her drink “which made me think she was suspecting something”.

“When I told Ndwandwa that my mother did not die, she was very angry and told me that we need to finish her later in the evening,” said the state witness.

She said Ndwandwa and Nkunzi had arrived at her house and said they had to “go and finish Dlamini off as Nkunzi was in possession of a loaded gun”.

The plan, she said, was that she would knock on the door, and when Dlamini opened, Nkunzi would shoot her.

However, the cries of a small child in the house forced the plan to change.

When Nkunzi heard the cries, said Nonhlanhla Mthunywa, he said, “if they find her (Dlamini) with people in the house everyone must die. So I had set another plan for her to be alone”.