Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Mulalo
SIVHIDZHO
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide - Murder for hire - To inherit
CONVICTED murderer Mulalo Sivhidzho will not be
able to appeal the life sentence handed to her for the murder of her
husband.
Sivhidzho and her two co-accused, Ntambudzeni
Matsenene and Arnold Sello, yesterday had their applications for leave
to appeal their various convictions and sentences dismissed by
Johannesburg high court acting Judge Naren Pandya.
Pandya told the trio's lawyers that their clients
had sought but failed to show that there existed exceptional
circumstances calling for the court's judgment and sentence to be set
aside.
Sivhidzho's lawyer, Anneline Roestoff, argued that
the court had erred in convicting her client based largely on
circumstantial evidence.
"This is owing to the fact that there is
circumstantial evidence about which another court might arrive at a
different conclusion," Roestoff argued.
But Pandya ruled that "the facts and evidence
against applicant number three (Sivhidzho) were overwhelming".
"The court found that the statement made by her
amounted to a confession," Pandya ruled.
"It is my view that there is no prospect of another
court coming to a different conclusion. So the applicant's application
for leave to appeal is dismissed."
Sivhidzho's assertion that her case might have been
prejudiced after cross-examination of a witness by her then lawyer
Christo Meiring was "curtailed", was also dismissed on the grounds
that Meiring was found to be "aggressive" towards witnesses, with many
allegedly registering their dissatisfaction at his conduct.
Sivhidzho's husband of six months, Avhatakali
Netshisaulu, was kidnapped, robbed and burnt alive while locked in the
boot of his car on December 7 2006.
She was found guilty on December 7 last year.
Mastermind Mulalo Sivhidzho Gets Life
By Mandla Mthembu - Menabuse.l1fe.co.za
March 2, 2011
Clearly the croud felt no sympathy for Mulalo
Sivhidzho (33) when she was led away to start a life in prison on
Monday (28-02-2011).
” Mulalo, go well, go well, you deserve to be in
jail,” the croud shouted. The daughter-in-law of former City Press
editor-in-chief Mathatha Tsedu was sentenced to life imprisonment by
Judge Naren Pandya in the South Gauteng High Court on monday. She was
found guilty of the murder of her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu (31)
five years ago. The people in the gallery clapped their hands in
approval as the judge passed the sentence on Mulalo.
Mulalo remained calm and showed no reaction when
her parents and family members hugged her before she went to the
cells. She has always maintained that she was innocent and showed no
remorse. Tsedu welcomed the sentence but said it will not bring his
son back.
The mother of the deceased Dzudzanani Netshisaulu
also said it would take time before she could come to terms with the
death of her son but welcomed the sentence. Judge Pandya described the
murder as brutal. “The murder was committed in a brutal manner. He was
burnt alive. Petrol was poured over his car and he was cremated
alive. Mulalo was the mastermind of the crime,” the judge said.
Mulalo’s co-accused, Nthabudzeni Matsenene (34) and
Arnold Sello (31) were also given life sentences for their role in the
murder. They were all sentenced to five years for kidnapping and three
years for malicious damage to property.
Sello was also given 15 years imprisonment for
robbery with aggravating cicumstances.
Widow only wed for money, court told
By Lebogang Seale - Iol.co.za
February 25, 2011
Mulalo Sivhidzho used her chartered
accountant husband for his money and property.
The mother of slain
accountant Avhatakali Netshisaulu said this to a social worker who
compiled a probation report into the personal circumstances and
background of Sivhidzho’s co-murderers, Ntabudzeni Matzhenene and
Sello Johannes Arnold.
Social worker Annette Vergeer
told the Johannesburg High Court that Avhatakali’s mother, Dzudzanani
Netshisaulu, had said: “She (Sivhidzho) planned to kill him after he
had bought her a car and a house.
“There is not a day that goes
by that she does not think of the brutal manner in which her son was
killed,” Vergeer added.
Sivhidzho and her
co-murderers were convicted for killing Avhatakali on December 7 last
year – four years to the day of the murder.
In their probation reports,
Matzhenene and Arnold indicated they would appeal the guilty verdict.
Avhatakali’s father, Mathatha
Tsedu, the head of Media24’s journalism academy, said he would never
come to terms with the brutal manner in which his son was slain.
“The fact that neither of
them (murderers) had ever shown any remorse has made this even more
devastating and hurtful.”
Earlier, the State sought to
rebuff a submission by Dr Eon Sonnekus, a forensic criminologist, who
described Sivhidzho as a “gentle soul” and not “a violent and
vindictive assassin”.
But state prosecutor Maro
Papachristoforou disputed this, showing Sonnekus the photographs
depicting the aftermath of Netshisaulu’s fiery death, including his
charred remains in his car’s boot.
“Would you argue that it’s
quite a heinous sight… that the deceased died a very cruel and
extremely violent and painful death? Would you agree that the killers…
could be described as violent, horrible and vindictive,” she asked, to
which Sonnekus replied in the affirmative.
Asked how Sivhidzho’s alleged
mental disorders influenced her to commit the crime, Sonnekus said
they were a contributory factor.
Judge Naren Pandya
interjected, asking if Sonnekus was “suggesting Sivhidzho didn’t know
what she was doing”.
Sonnekus replied in the
affirmative.
Papachristoforou sought to
discredit Sonnekus, arguing that he was not qualified to give “factual
information” on issues like traumatic stress and mental imbalances.
This, she said, was because he was not a qualified clinical
psychologist or psychiatrist.
She added that his version
was based on “presumptions” and “prejudiced” relatives of Sivhidzho.
To back this, she called
Professor Gerald Labuschagne, a commander in the SA Police Service’s
investigative psychology unit, to the witness stand.
Labuschagne said Sonnekus was
not allowed to make diagnoses on issues like clinical psychology and
psychiatrist, as prescribed by the Health Professions Council Act.
“The fact that there are
overlaps doesn’t make you an expert,” said Labuschagne.
He added there was no
indication that these post-traumatic events left any lasting residue
on Sivhidzho’s life.
Village can't believe pastor's child did it
By Frank Maponya and Chester Makana -
Sowetanlive.co.za
December 8, 2010
MULALO Sivhidzho's conviction for the murder of her
husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu has shocked residents of the village
she comes from.
The child of a pastor, most of the villagers of
Luvhimbi village outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo, are still shocked by
her involvement in the murder of her husband.
Sivhidzho is the daughter of Nthathedzeni
Sivhidzho, a Lutheran Church pastor in the village, who also works as
a clerk at one of the government buildings in Sibasa. He is married to
Takalani, who works as a clerk in the department of public works, also
in Sibasa.
The couple is the most respected and trusted in the
village, such that most villagers rely on them for advice.
The news of Sivhidzho's conviction has divided
villagers, with some describing her as a "good and intelligent
person".
Perhaps the respect the villagers have for her
father is what makes it difficult for them to believe she could have
had a hand in her husband's murder.
Villagers yesterday described how she was a pillar
of strength to the youth in the village.
A neighbour who asked for anonymity said: "Mulalo
played a big role in the introduction of different sporting codes in
the area, urging the youth to stay out of crime. But we are still
shocked to learn that she was involved in the murder of her husband."
Another villager said Sivhidzho was difficult to
associate with. "She used to cut a lone figure in the village whenever
she was around, and it was difficult for us to befriend her.
"She would attend church whenever she was home, but
one would never know what type of a person she was."
The villagers said they only came to know
Netshisaulu at their wedding, some time in 2005, and that was the last
time they saw him alive.
Sivhidzho was last seen officiating at her cousin's
wedding in the village last December.
Mulalo Sivhidzho found guilty of murder
By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
December 8, 2010
EXACTLY four years after Avhatakali Netshisaulu was
brutally killed, his wife was found guilty of his murder.
Netshisaulu was kidnapped, robbed and burnt alive
while locked inside the boot of his car on December 7 2006.
Yesterday, Johannesburg high court's Judge Naren
Pandya found that Sivhidzho had hired her co-accused Ntabudzeni
Matzhenene to recruit three men to kill her husband.
"There is no other conclusion but that she planned
a plot with her co-accused to kill the deceased," the judge said.
"You have been found guilty of murder, kidnapping
and malicious damage to property."
The three killers had pleaded not guilty on all
charges but the judge found that witnesses had corroborated each other
in the testimonies against them.
The judge said Sivhidzho's 10-year-old
sister-in-law and a family friend who drove them around when she
realised her husband had been kidnapped had testified truthfully.
They both said Sivhidzho had directed them straight
to the scene where the car was found burning.
"It is clear she gave direction as to where to go,
obviously she knew where her husband had been killed," he said.
Judge Pandya also admitted evidence of firefighters
who attended the scene and later testified that Sivhidzho had screamed
"my husband is in the boot, look in the boot".
The judge then dismissed Sivhidzho's application to
have her bail extended.
Mulalo confessed to killing her husband
By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
December 2, 2010
MULALO Sivhidzho confessed to killing her husband
in free and sober mind, a Johannesburg high court judge said
yesterday.
Judge Naren Pandya said it was not reasonably
possibly true that Sivhidzho had been tortured by the police and
forced to confess.
"It is unlikely for injuries suffered during
torture not to be visible to the doctor.
"The defence argued that she had bruises on her
wrists, but the doctor testified that the bruises might have been
caused by handcuffs," the judge said.
Sivhidzho allegedly paid her husband's friend,
Ntambudzeni Matzhenene, and co-accused Sello Arnold to kill her
husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu in 2006.
He was killed, bundled into the boot of his car and
burnt.
He was on his way to a business meeting with
Matzhenene.
She was arrested three weeks later and confessed,
according to the police.
Judge Pandya found that Colonel Primrose Ngcobo,
the police officer who took down the confession, had been truthful in
saying Sivhidzho had waived her right to a lawyer.
"It is reasonable to assume that a well-educated
and talented person such as the accused would realise what the
consequences would be when the right to remain silent is waived in any
case. Her rights were explained to her and there is no indication that
she asked for clearance," the judge said.
He went on to say that after being arrested
Sivhidzho asked her father-in-law (former City Press editor) Mathatha
Tsedu to organise a lawyer for her court appearance.
"It must be borne in mind that at the time of
making the statement, no lawyer had been appointed. She only asked for
a lawyer afterwards," said the judge.
In her confession Sivhidzho wrote that Matzhenene
had approached her with the idea of killing her husband after she told
him he was cheating on her.
"I was shocked and asked him what would happen. He
said no one would know.
"He phoned me again in November (2006) and said
everything was ready.
"On Thursday my husband left the house to meet
Ntambudzeni. He phoned 15 minutes later, saying he was being followed
by two cars. I told him to come back.
"Then Ntambudzeni sent me an SMS, and I knew they
had got him," she said in the confession.
Judge Pandya admitted the statement as evidence,
saying the state had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Sivhidzho
had not been tortured.
"Material of the accused's evidence was
contradictory. She tried to divert from answering direct questions.
Her evidence of torture is rejected," he said.
Sivhidzho, Arnold and Matzhenene have all pleaded
not guilty to murder, kidnapping and damage to property.
'Widow left shop to meet killers'
By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
July 30, 2010
A mysterious shopping trolley, shopping bags that
disappeared and a 10-year-old's vivid memory support the state's case
that Mulalo Sivhidzho went missing from the Northgate shopping mall on
the night her husband was killed.
She allegedly disappeared to make final
arrangements with Avhatakali Netshisaulu's killers.
State prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou said
yesterday there was a probability that when Sivhidzho disappeared for
two hours, leaving her mother-in-law Dzu-dzanani Netshisaulu and her
10-year-old daughter stranded, she took her grocery bags to the car
with her and left them in the car.
Sivhidzho and her co-accused, Tabudzeni Matzhenene
and Arnold Sello, are on trial for the murder of Avhatakali, 31, who
was ambushed and bundled into the boot of his car before it was set
alight.
The 10-year-old testified that after buying
groceries at Pick n Pay she, her mother and Sivhidzho went to Edgars
to buy clothes.
She said Sivhidzho disappeared and returned after
two hours, without the bags she was carrying. The girl said when they
arrived home later the grocery bags were in the car.
"The only probability is that she took the bags
with her and put them in the car when she went to see the killers at a
nearby Caltex garage," Pappachristoforou said.
She said this was contrary to Sivhidzho's version
that she never left Edgars and that she was in the fitting rooms
trying on clothes.
Pappachristoforou said when Sivhidzho disappeared
from the mall to "meet" her husband's killers, she made the mistake of
leaving the two behind.
Mulalo Sivhidzho's 'evil deeds'
By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
July 29, 2010
THE text message Mulalo Sivhidzho sent to her
father-in-law after her husband's funeral was a partial confession to
her evil deed, the Johannesburg high court has heard.
Part of the text message read: "Part one has passed
now we have to go to part two, the material part, materials put us
Christians into temptations and do evil things to get materials of
this world.
"I trust you but the question is do you trust me,
sometimes I feel like you are my real father, you are everything to
me".
This message was sent by Sivhidzho to Mathatha
Tsedu, the father of her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu who had just
been buried in Venda in December 2006.
Netshisaulu was hijacked and burnt alive in the
boot of his car, allegedly by Sello Arnold and about six other men who
had allegedly been hired by Sivhidzho.
His charred remains were found in Honeydew about an
hour after he called his wife to say he was being followed by two
cars. He was on his way to meet Ntabudzeni Matzhenene, also an accused
in the case.
State prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou, in her
closing argument, said that knowing she had conspired to kill her
husband, Sivhidzho was overwhelmed with guilt and needed to unload.
"Why did she send Tsedu such a cryptic and
religious statement? Who are these Christians who will be tempted by
material things to do evil things?
"If one had to apply one's mind to all the facts
and keep her co-accused's statements in mind, it would not be very
difficult to see that she was in all probability overwhelmed with
guilt and was partially confessing her evil deed," she argued.
The prosecutor went on to say that her submissions
were corroborated by Sivhidzho's co-accused Ma-tzhenene's warning
statement in which he said she told him she "wanted her husband dead
so she could inherit all his belongings, she wanted to own it all
alone".
But Sivhidzho's explanation for sending the SMS was
that she was concerned about the squabble between the Tsedus and the
Netshisaulus over the burial process.
She said she had hoped Tsedu would read between the
lines in order to get what she meant.
Pappachristoforou described Sivhidzho's explanation
as utter nonsense.
Sivhidzho 'called' husband's killers
By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
July 28, 2010
MULALO Sivhidzho called her husband's killers to
confirm they had got him before calling the police and going to search
for him, the state suggests.
A 38-second phone conversation is reflected from
Sivhidzho's house phone to her husband's cellphone almost 10 minutes
after he called her to say he was being followed by two cars.
This is contrary to Sivhidzho's version that the
last time she spoke to her husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, was when
he called to say he was being followed.
She said all the calls she attempted to make
afterwards went to voicemail.
But, a cellphone record expert testified that there
was a conversation and that if it had gone to voicemail there would be
no reflection of call duration.
Referring to this evidence, prosecutor Maro
Pappachristoforou suggested in her closing argument that Sivhidzho was
talking to one of the killers, who were now in possession of
Netshisaulu's cellphone.
"In all probability, she was talking to one of the
killers to ensure that they had killed him," she said.
Sivhidzho allegedly hired co-accused Ntabudzeni
Matzhenene and Sello Arnold to hijack, rob and burn her husband alive
inside the boot of his car in December 2007. He was on his way to meet
Matzhenene in Honeydew when he was killed.
Pappachristoforou also pointed out that network
signals proved that Matzhenene never left his home to meet the
deceased. It shows that all the calls he made and received through his
cellphone that night were at his shack in Zandspruit.
She also argued that Sivhidzho's claim that she had
never met Arnold was a blatant lie.
'How did Mulalo know it was his car?'
By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
July 27, 2010
MULALO Sivhidzho's utterances at the crime scene,
her inability to show emotion and her vindictiveness during the trial
are proof that she killed her husband.
This was prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou's
submission during her closing argument in the Johannesburg high court
yesterday.
Sivhidzho allegedly hired co-accused Ntabudzeni
Matzhenene and Sello Arnold to kill her husband Avhatakali
Netshisaulu, the son of former newspaper editor Mathatha Tsedu.
Netshisaulu's charred body was found in the boot of
his car within an hour after he called her to say he was being
followed by two cars in Honeydew. He was on his way to meet
Matzhenene.
During the two-and-a-half- year trial, five state
witnesses testified that when Sivhidzho got to the scene where the car
was in flames, she screamed "my husband is in the boot".
"How could she have known that it was her husband's
car? She arrived when the car was still up in flames. She said she
could identify the car by its towbar. How does that happen? The
state's case is corroborated by five witnesses," Papachristoforou
said.
She argued Sivhidzho's behaviour when she arrived
at the crime scene was not that of an innocent person.
"She was composed for someone who just lost her
husband. That she screamed for firefighters to look for him in the
boot does not mean she was crying," she said.
"Witnesses said she was constantly on her cellphone
conducting interviews, I would have expected someone in her position
to be too shocked."
Papachristoforou went on to describe Sivhidzho as
abitter person who tried by all means to frustrate court proceedings
and discredit anyone who tried to incriminate her.
She said Sivhidzho's greatest victim was her
mother-in-law. After telling the court about Sivhidzho's disappearance
from the mall, Dzudzanani Netshisaulu spent two weeks on the witness
stand being cross-examined about her dead son's finances.
The three accused have pleaded not guilty to all
charges.
Hubby killed'for his money
By Dudu Busani-Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za
February 2, 2010
MULALO Sivhidzho murdered her husband because he
had a lot of money - and she wanted it - according to the man she
allegedly hired to do the killing.
MULALO Sivhidzho murdered her husband because he
had a lot of money - and she wanted it - according to the man she
allegedly hired to do the killing.
"She promised to pay me R4000 for the job. I never
received my money. When I called her the phone was off," said
Ntabudzeni Matsenene in a statement he made to the police.
Matsenene's statement was the first to be read out
in the Johannesburg high court after Judge Naren Pandya admitted
statements by all three accused as evidence in the trial.
Sivhidzho, Matsenene and co-accused Arnold Sello
had tried in vain to have their statements thrown out of court,
claiming they were tortured by police into confessing to the crime.
In 2006 they allegedly conspired to murder
Sivhidzho's husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, by hiring men to hijack,
rob and burn him alive in the boot of his car.
Matsenene's seven-page statement describes how
after meeting Sivhidzho just once, he was shocked to get a call from
her asking for a meeting.
"We met at the Spar on a Saturday. She came in a
taxi. She told me she wanted to kill her husband and needed my help. I
refused, but she persisted.
"When I asked why she wanted to kill him she said
it's because he had a lot of money, and she wanted it."
He said after the meeting, he went to the
Zandspruit informal settlement where he organised two Zimbabwean men,
Shadrack and Abel.
"Mulalo said she would organise three men on her
own."
On December 7 2006 Matsenene and Sivhidzho arranged
to meet at a garage close to Zandspruit, with each of them bringing
their own hitmen.
Sivhidzho arrived in her husband's car with two
men.
"She then told us she was going back home to give
him the car so he could come this side where the hitmen would attack
him."
Netshisaulu was supposed to meet Matsenene at the
same garage that afternoon but was found dead inside the boot of the
car.
