State relying on cell phone data in Tshegofatso Pule murder trial
Judgment has been reserved in the murder trial against Nthuthuko Shoba at the High Court in Johannesburg.
Shoba, who is the alleged mastermind of the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Tshegofatso Pule, is facing charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and defeating the ends of justice.
On Tuesday, the prosecution and the defense presented their closing arguments to acting judge Stuart Wilson.
State prosecutor Faghre Mohammed said the state's case relies heavily on the connection between Shoba and a disputed cell phone number that Pule's killer Muzikayise Malephane said they used to communicate.
Mohammed said the state did not intend for the court to believe Malephane's version without any doubt, but that they took his version and sought to build find evidence that corroborated some of his testimony.
He said he relied strongly on the evidence presented to him by Pule's friend, Tshepiso Tsita, who presented an SMS that was sent Pule to lure her to MacDonalds on the 29th of May with an offer for a job.
Tsita mentioned Pule was told a Jeep would be waiting for her which he says corroborated Malephane's version that he was instructed to wait for Pule day on that day when he was allegedly supposed to have killed her.
Mohammed went further to state that his intensions were to also not directly link Shoba to the disputed number, but to show evidence around both his movements and his registered cell phone number and their link to the number.
One such example was Shoba's car tracker records show that on the 4th of June his car came to a stop a few seconds after the disputed number called Malephane in the same area.
He also added that on the same day in the evening when Pule was picked up from Shoba's complex, the disputed number called Malephane at 22:04 pm and 2 minutes later, Shoba and Pule were seen walking to Malepane's vehicle.
Shoba's lawyer hit back, with Advocate Norman Makhubela saying there is no evidence that suggests Shoba was the person in control of the disputed number despite its activities.
He said there are also two other cell numbers that are critical to the case that were never investigated by the police.
One number was used to lure Pule to MacDonalds and the other was an SMS containing threats three weeks before her death.
She was warned that she may have contracted HIV and should get tested.
Makhubela said the court must reject Malephane's version altogether and not cherry pick on the basis that his first statement to police was riddled with lies.
Shoba will remain in custody until judgment is delivered.
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