Murder suspect appears in Mutale Court

A 51-year-old murder suspect, Shumani Godfrey Muleya, who was arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend last week, appeared in the Mutale Magistrate's Court on Monday. Muleya is accused of hacking Mpho Grace Thiba (40) to death at her house in Muswodi Tshisimani village early last Friday morning.

At the time of her death Thiba, a mother of six, worked as part of the nutrition staff at Ratshibvumo High School.

Muleya appeared to be calm and collected when he appeared in court and he told the magistrate that he would like to get a Legal Aid lawyer. Magistrate Theodora Mathivha postponed the case to 27 March for further police investigations.

According to the SAPS’s acting communications manager in the Vhembe District, WO Vuledzani Dathi, the police were busy performing duties in the early hours on Friday morning when they were telephonically alerted about an incident where a female victim was allegedly killed by her boyfriend at her own house.

“According to the information we received, the couple were asleep when the cellphone of the deceased rang, and she answered it. After the call, her boyfriend allegedly started to accuse her of having an affair and a heated argument ensued between them. That's when the suspect allegedly took a panga [knife] and chopped her all over her body and she died instantly,” Dathi said.

Dathi added that after the attack, the suspect went to a separate room where two children aged five and eight were sleeping and told them that he had killed their mother before disappearing into the darkness.

Date:22 February 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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