Malibyane Maoeng tries to cover her face after appearing for fraud in the Benoni magistrate's court.
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The woman who was found in possession of a late Ekurhuleni medic's car says she lied to her friends that the vehicle was a gift because she wanted a higher status.

Malibyane Maoeng took the stand in the Benoni magistrate's court yesterday for the first time in her trial.

She faces charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, fraud and theft.

Maoeng was apparently the last person to be seen with Dr Godfrey Sankubele Dire at a Sasolburg lodge before he was found dead.

Dire was found dead on June 30 last year in his room at the lodge with froth coming out of his mouth.

Police suspected he was poisoned.

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Maoeng, who was under cross-examination from prosecutor Basil Marishane yesterday, said she was given consent by Dire to use both his car and credit card that she is accused of going on a shopping spree with.

"When I left him in Sasolburg he borrowed [lent] me his car and gave me his credit card to spend on whatever I wanted. He said I could use close to R30,000," Maoeng told the court.

She said she had fraudulently signed as Dire on all purchases because she was protecting his marriage.

"I was a side chick, so I didn't want to use my signature because I knew he would be in trouble," she said.

Marishane put it to Maoeng, dubbed the "Black Widow", that she knew the doctor was dead when she left Sasolburg.

"To think that you did not bother to find out why he was not coming to get his car back because he had lent it to you, after days and weeks passed, shows that you knew he had passed away," said Marishane.

Maoeng told the court that she borrowed the car from Dire to attend a funeral.

She also said that Dire had gifted her a phone she was found using after he died.

"The doctor taught me how to drive, so he was comfortable with me driving his car although I do not have a driver's licence."

Maoeng yesterday disputed a statement she gave to the police when she was arrested last year on June 12.

Marishane said Maoeng had written in the statement that she had taken a taxi to Daveyton after she visited Dire in Sasolburg.

"I was not in the right state of mind when I gave that statement because I was beaten and tortured, I was confused when I was arrested," said Maoeng.

She had previously told the court that she and the medic had been in a relationship for three years at the time of his death.

When Marishane asked how she drove from Sasolburg to Benoni in the vehicle, she said she was driven by two of the doctor's friends who accompanied her because she could not drive a long distance alone.

Maoeng's attorney Moleba Modikga asked the court for an adjournment after a witness meant to testify in Maoeng's favour could not make it to court.

The trial was then postponed to November 12 and 15 for finalisation.

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